The Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is rushing to approve a project to lease state trust lands to a private interest without conducting a thorough environmental review, and the agency is failing to consider the project’s impacts on funding for schools and other public services as required by the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). […]
Press Releases
The Facts About Flat Country
After organizing a kayak “flotilla” to protest the Willamette National Forest’s Flat Country project, anti-forestry activists continue to make false and misleading statements about the project. Here are the facts: The Flat Country would implement roughly 950 acres of regeneration harvest as well as over 1,500 acres of thinning- not “the thousands of acres of […]
AFRC, Eastern Oregon Counties Seek to Intervene to Defend Forest Health, Wildfire Mitigation
The American Forest Resource Council (AFRC) and the Eastern Oregon Counties Association (EOCA) have moved to intervene in a federal lawsuit challenging the U.S. Forest Service’s “Eastside Screens” Amendment that affects forest management on six national forests in Eastern Oregon, including the Malheur, Umatilla, Wallowa-Whitman, Deschutes, Ochoco, and Fremont-Winema. In June 2022, six anti-forestry groups […]
Washington Board of Natural Resources Should Reject Bully Tactics Over Management of State Trust Lands
Beneficiaries of Washington state trust lands urged the Board of Natural Resources (BNR) to follow the State Supreme Court’s opinion in Conservation Northwest v. Commissioner of Public Lands and meet its obligations to continue managing these working forests to fund critical public services. Representatives of the beneficiary community sent a letter to the BNR as […]
Oregon’s Rum Creek Fire Reveals Risks of New Wilderness Proposals
As of this writing, the Rum Creek Fire in southwest Oregon has burned nearly 12,000 acres along the iconic Rogue River northwest of Grants Pass. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has declared an emergency as “Level 3 – Go Now” evacuations are in place for homes near the rural communities of Rand and Galice. The fire […]
MYTH vs. FACT: Washington State Supreme Court Affirms DNR Trust Mandate
On July 21, 2022, the Washington State Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Conservation Northwest v. Franz affirming the trust mandate that applies to Department of Natural Resources (DNR) state trust lands. This is a major legal victory for DNR, public schools, counties, and many other community service providers, and the forest products sector. […]
Washington State Supreme Court Affirms DNR Management of State Trust Forest Lands
The American Forest Resource Council today joined beneficiaries of Washington state trust lands in applauding the Washington State Supreme Court’s opinion in Conservation Northwest v. Hilary Franz, a case where Conservation Northwest attempted to undermine the Washington Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) fiduciary duty to manage these working forests, known as state trust lands. The […]
AFRC Responds to ‘Climate Forests Campaign’ Report
AFRC has the following to say regarding a report by the “Climate Forests Campaign,” an anti-forestry effort to halt forest management throughout the nation: Old and mature trees are not “worth more standing” if they are dead and emitting carbon. This “report” by anti-forestry lobbyists was released at the same time firefighters are working […]
Why timber is essential to the Biden Administration’s wildfire strategy
By Travis Joseph, AFRC President The Forest Service and BLM timber sale programs are essential to preserving and growing the physical and human forest infrastructure that is not only critical to providing carbon-friendly wood products to meet society’s needs but is essential to helping the Forest Service and BLM accomplish their respective federal forest management […]
AFRC Statement on Secretary Vilsack Memorandum on ‘Bold Action’ to Restore Forests, Improve Resilience, and Curb Climate Change
The American Forest Resource Council had the following to say regarding U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack’s memorandum directing the U.S. Forest Service to take “bold actions to restore forests, improve resilience, and address the climate crisis.” “Wildfires are converting overstocked federal forests in the West from carbon sinks to carbon sources. The U.S. Forest […]