Forests

Washington’s forests act as powerful carbon “sinks”, absorbing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in trees and soil for decades. Meeting Washington’s climate goals will require enhancing the carbon storage and sequestration in our forests— which are one of our state’s most significant assets in the fight against climate change and pollution. We work to promote investment and science-based management in our state’s forests, supporting forest landowners to unlock this natural climate solution.

Community-owned working forests can deliver a triple bottom line for communities: providing the unique social, ecological, and economic benefits they need. We work in partnership with community forests to advocate for funding to establish and expand community forests, and to showcase them as models of locally governed, ecological forest management for the benefit of local communities. WCA is a member of the Northwest Community Forest Coalition

Learning to live with and manage increasingly frequent and severe wildfires in Washington is essential for healthy communities and ecosystems. WCA engages with partners across the state to improve outcomes for ecological and community resilience through land-use planning, advocacy and accountability related to state wildfire funding and forest health treatments, supporting expansion of prescribed fire, and supporting air quality programs in overburdened communities.

The fish & wildlife that call Washington’s forests home are vital to the culture, biodiversity, and ecological health of the state. WCA represents the conservation community within Forests & Fish, where we seek to establish science-based forest practices to protect water quality, endangered species, and fish habitat in the forested landscape, while upholding the rights of tribal nations as co-managers of Washington fisheries.

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is charged with managing over 2 million acres of state forestlands for the benefit of all Washingtonians. This has traditionally meant maximizing revenue from timber sales. WCA has spent decades working to expand DNR management to encompass the full range of community and ecological benefits forests provide, including clean air and water, wildlife habitat, climate change mitigation and adaptation, rural livelihoods, and culturally significant places.

The climate and social impacts of the wood we build with varies widely. As demand for climate-smart wood products grows in the building sector, making informed decisions between different wood products requires transparency and data about a wood product’s entire lifecycle, including how its forests of origin are managed and how it was manufactured. WCA is a founding member of the Climate Smart Wood Group, which supports the architecture, engineering, and construction sector to source climate-smart wood. We also advance policies to improve transparency of carbon impacts of building materials, including serving on the technical work group for the Buy Clean Buy Fair law that we helped pass in 2023.

The Department of Natural Resources, led by the elected Commissioner of Public Lands, plays a decisive role in the health of our state’s natural resources. DNR directly manages over 2 million acres of public forestland, oversees forest practices rules on privately-owned forestlands, and manages 2.6 million acres of state-owned aquatic lands. We monitor the work of the Department of Natural Resources, and hold the Commissioner of Public Lands accountable to environmental progress.