Кризис доверия: снижение выручки от лесных аукционов ставит под угрозу финансирование школ и пожарных отделов

Low: A crisis of trust at DNR Published 1:30 am Friday, August 14, 2026 Washington’s state trust lands are working forests that generate revenue for public schools, libraries, fire districts, and other trust beneficiaries while continuing to provide wildlife habitat, clean water, recreation, and the renewable wood products people use every day – including those made right here in Snohomish County. These forests have delivered these benefits for generations, which is why Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove should be supporting his own professional land managers instead of undermining them to satisfy the demands of anti-forestry activists. Trust lands are different from every other category of public land because they exist for a specific purpose. The DNR has a legal responsibility to manage these working forests for defined beneficiaries, and that responsibility has guided trust land management for generations. That clear mission has produced equally clear results. Science-based management has enabled Washington to keep these forests as forests while generating revenue that supports schools, counties, and other public services, which is exactly the balance the trust was created to achieve. That is an approach worth protecting because it has consistently delivered on the promise made when these lands were entrusted to the state. The department’s professional foresters and scientists manage these lands for the long-term. They respond to changing forest conditions, harvest timber on a sustainable basis, regenerate new forests, and ensure these lands continue producing the environmental and economic benefits that the people of Washington expect. Yet this balance is being undermined by the actions of Commissioner Upthegrove. DNR timber sale volumes have fallen to some of the lowest levels in more than two decades as Upthegrove delays, reduces, or withdraws sales that his own professional land managers advanced consistent with all agency rules and regulations. In fact, Fiscal Year 2026 ended with the second lowest timber sale volume in over 20 years after the department sold just 401 million board feet, nearly 240 million board feet below DNR’s statewide target for the year. The decline has not been limited to timber volume. Fiscal Year 2026 also ended with the lowest average timber auction value in several years, leaving the department with both fewer timber sales and lower returns from the sales that did occur. That combination has reduced revenue for the public services provided by trust beneficiaries. It has also placed additional strain on DNR’s management accounts that fund agency staff and support the department’s trust land management program, creating a financial crisis at DNR. This crisis extends well beyond the forests at a time when Washington already faces significant budget challenges across state government. The department’s current direction is even harder to justify because Washington has already made substantial conservation commitments on trust lands. Nearly half of the trust land base that once generated revenue for beneficiaries has already been removed from timber production under a state-federal habitat conservation plan, making the remaining working forests more important than ever because they now carry a greater responsibility for supporting the trust. Continuing to reduce timber harvest on those lands makes it increasingly difficult to fulfill the obligations these lands were established to meet while shifting more of the cost of schools, libraries, fire districts, and other local services onto taxpayers through higher taxes and fees. It also threatens our remaining mills and loggers in rural communities like Darrington. Washington already possesses the model many states are trying to achieve. Working forests have demonstrated for generations that they can provide wildlife habitat, clean water, recreation, renewable wood products, and dependable funding for public schools and local communities without sacrificing one objective to accomplish another. Commissioner Upthegrove should be building on that success by trusting DNR’s professional land managers and managing these forests for the beneficiaries they were entrusted to serve, instead of allowing trust land policy to be shaped by the political agenda of anti-forestry activists. Sam Low is a Washington State Representative for District 39 and a Snohomish County Council Member. Sam and his wife Mariah were both born and raised here in Snohomish County and have 5 kids and 2 grandchildren.