Seeing the forest for the trees, Commissioner Upthegrove delivers on campaign promises to promote ecological health in state forest management. On August 26, Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove announced an executive order conserving 77,000 acres of older and mature state forestlands in western Washington, often called legacy forests. The order follows a six-month review … Continued
Conservation Northwest strongly opposes Senate budget legislation that would mandate the sale of 2 to 3 million acres of public lands across 11 western states, including Washington. This legislation could effectively privatize management of much of our remaining public forests through long-term contracts exceeding 20 years. The Scale of This Threat: This proposal would increase logging … Continued
By Paula Swedeen,Ph.D., Senior Policy Director Queets, Olympic National Park. Photo by Chase Gunnell. While the 2025 legislative session was challenging, we had a couple of important bright spots given the budget situation. We convinced legislators to appropriate $31 million for forest carbon sequestration projects in western Washington – $23 million on DNR lands and $8 … Continued
Conservation Northwest today expressed qualified support for Governor Jay Inslee signing House Bill 2424. The bill requires the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to work with the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation to coordinate gray wolf and other wildlife management in the so-called “North Half” lands in northeast Washington that were part of … Continued
The 2023 session brought big wins for many of Conservation Northwest’s priorities, including protecting and managing state lands for carbon and biodiversity, increased capacity for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to protect the state’s natural heritage, funding and program improvements for wolf co-existence, spotted owl habitat restoration, clean energy siting that takes habitat connectivity into account, and improved multi-agency planning for recreation impacts to conservation.
State legislators in Olympia invested a landmark $83 million in forest conservation and ecological forest management practices to boost carbon sequestration on state lands.
Seattle, Wash.— A bipartisan wildlife bill that its supporters have dubbed “the biggest wildlife bill in fifty years” has been left out of the omnibus spending package, leaving very few options for passing the bill this Congress. The bill passed the House in June and has 47 cosponsors in the Senate, including 16 Republicans. “This … Continued
Washington would get $20.7 million to help at-risk wildlife Seattle, Wash. — The U.S. House of Representatives voted Tuesday to pass the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, a bill to prevent wildlife extinctions by funding locally-led conservation efforts. If it becomes law, Washington will receive around $20.7 million to help 268 species of concern, including … Continued
Inclusion of full funding for Okanogan Valley wildlife crossings in the Forward Washington transportation projects spending package is a huge accomplishment
We recently signed onto a letter to Members of Congress in support of protecting nearly 1.5 million acres as Wilderness, including the Wild Olympics Wilderness & Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.