Board of Natural Resources

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Important Changes for December 2025 and January 2026 Public Comment Registration

To accommodate the Thanksgiving and New Year’s holidays, public comment registration deadlines will change for the December and January Board of Natural Resources meetings

December 2, 2025 Board Meeting

Registration will open at noon on November 21, 2025

CHANGE: Registration will close at NOON on NOVEMBER 26, 2025
Email confirmations to commenters will be sent by 4 p.m. that day

January 6, 2026 Board Meeting

Registration will open at noon on December 18, 2025

CHANGE: Registration will close at 4:00 p.m. on DECEMBER 31, 2025
Email confirmation to commenters will be sent on January 2, 2026

Below are detailed instructions on registering for board meetings and the monthly meeting materials. The draft agenda will be available, and registration opens at noon on the third Friday of the month. Please read the instructions, and if you are joining remotely, attempt to join the webinar before 9 a.m. so that any technical difficulties can be addressed before the meeting begins.

We have updated the public comment registration process for in-person and remote comments. The general comment period is 60 minutes, allowing two minutes per commenter. We average 30 commenters per meeting.

PUBLIC COMMENT PROCESS:

Registration will open at noon on the third Friday of the month.
You need to register per the instructions whether you plan to comment in person or remotely by 4:00pm the Thursday before the board meeting.
A randomizer will be used to select commenters to allow everyone the same chance to speak regardless of when they register.
You will receive a confirmation email on the Friday before the board meeting informing you of your randomly generated number of the commenting list.
You cannot sign up on the day of the board meeting.

Registration Opens	12:00 p.m., 3^rd Friday before the Board meeting
Registration Closes	4:00 p.m., Thursday before the Board meeting
Confirmation Email Sent to Commenters with Randomized Number	Friday before the Board meeting
Board of Natural Resources Meeting	9:00 a.m., 1^st Tuesday (except August)

Written testimony is equivalent to in-person and may be submitted following the guidelines below. If you prefer, you are welcome to share your comments via email to bnr@dnr.wa.gov. To be timely in relaying comments to the Board via email, please submit your comments before noon the day before the regularly scheduled board meeting.

The Board of Natural Resources sets policies to guide how the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) manages our state's lands and resources. The board was formed when DNR was created in 1957.

Board Responsibilities

Approve trust land timber sales
Approve sales, exchanges, or purchases of trust lands
Establish the sustainable harvest level for forested trust lands

Board Roles

Harbor Line Commission - Establishes or relocates harbor lines to define boundaries for commerce and navigation in the state's navigable waters.

Board of Appraisers - Carries out the Washington State Constitution's requirement that no lands granted to the state for educational purposes be sold except to the highest bidder at public auction unless improvements have been established by a Board of Appraisers.

Board on Geographic Names - Hears and considers recommendations from the Committee on Geographic Names for naming lakes, mountains, streams, places, towns and other geographic features within the state.

Roster

View the members of the board .

Statutory Authority

RCW 43.30.205 grants the board its authority.

Contact

Contact bnr@dnr.wa.gov with questions and comments.

Meetings

PLEASE NOTE: Members of the public who would like to present materials to the Board of Natural Resources for consideration must provide the materials to the board coordinator three (3) business days prior to the board meeting. As the board normally meets on the first Tuesday of each month (except in August), materials must be submitted by the close of business on the Wednesday before the meeting in order to be distributed to Board members. Please send board materials to: bnr@dnr.wa.gov.

The Board meets the first Tuesday of each month except August. (see list below)

Board meetings will also be listed on the agency calendar.