Forest Land Planning
Forested state trust lands, in addition to earning between $100 to $200 million each year, provide for a variety of uses, such as recreation and critical habitat for Washington’s flora and fauna. With so many uses, these trust lands are valued by the people of Washington for many different reasons.
We manage about 1.4 million acres of forested state trust land in Western Washington. These trust lands are divided into six Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) Planning Units: South Puget, North Puget, South Coast, Olympic Experimental State Forest, Straits and Columbia (see map). Forest land planning is focused at the HCP planning unit scale.
Forest Land Planning helps us identify and integrate social-cultural, ecological, and economic issues which are then developed into management strategies that will help us achieve our policies for these trust lands.
Understanding local issues helps us determine the type of forest management activities will take place over time.
What Can Forest Land Planning Help Achieve?
The forest land planning projects will help us implement the policy regarding Forest Land Planning within the 2006 Policy for Sustainable Forests plan.
The Forest Land Planning process offers us ways to communicate with the public about the forest management that will occur based on local input and guided by agency policy. In addition, we will be able to more accurately assess whether we are achieving long-term objectives. If not, we can make adjustments.
Forest Land Plans Under Development
Please send any questions or comments on this information to: forestlandplanning@dnr.wa.gov