S.O.S. On August 24, 2022, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources intends to auction off 125 acres of Legacy Forests west of Quilcene in the “Penny Wise” Timber Sale. The timber sale will be sold to the highest bidder with a minimum bid of $1,907,000, and will result in a total of seven clear cuts targeting some of the oldest and largest trees remaining in the State Forest.

The forests at risk in the Penny Wise Timber Sale are estimated to be nearly 100 years old and Unit #7 of the timber sale contains rich red cedar forests with trees up to 6 feet in diameter. Large cedars are valuable for cultural practices of indigenous nations and are becoming increasingly rare across a landscape dominated by timber plantations. 

The Penny Wise Timber Sale is #WorthMoreStanding. Old growth forests have essentially disappeared from all state and private lands in Washington. If the DNR auctions off Penny Wise we, as a state, will be losing a forest that is already well on its way to becoming old growth and providing habitat for endangered species such as the Northern Spotted Owl and Marbled Murrelet. 

The DNR justifies clear cutting on public lands because part of the revenue from these timber sales is invested in state schools and county governments, however, these timber sales do a lot more to benefit private industry than rural schools. The North Mason school district, a district south of the Penny Wise Timber Sale received a measly $30,000 last year from the DNR, despite sky-high lumber prices and dozens of DNR-sanctioned clear cuts within the district. 

Legacy forests such as those found in the Penny Wise Timber Sale contain massive amounts of carbon, and destroying them is antithetical to the rhetoric of climate action touted by the Commissioner Public Lands Hilary Franz and Washington State Governor Jay Inslee. The scientific community has told us that we are in a climate emergency, even now Washington state is faced with heat waves and fires. It is unconscionable for our elected leaders to bury their heads in the sand while the natural world is in crisis.

If Penny Wise is preserved it will become an old growth forest, it will be a natural asset, a place of learning and biodiversity for future generations.

If Penny Wise is logged the lush rainforest that grows there today will be converted into a barren scar of scorched earth. 60% of the carbon stored in the forest will be released, the area will be sprayed with glyphosate and the people of Washington State will have another seven clear cuts to pass on to future generations. 

Join us in demanding that Hilary Franz CANCEL the Penny Wise Timber Sale, protect legacy forests, and end clear-cut logging on public lands!

You can find the timber sale document here.