Legacy Forests: Forests that are naturally re-grown 2nd growth and not monoculture plantation forests. They contains old growth trees, complex forest canopies & understories, and legacy forest characteristics, including snags (dead standing trees) and large wood on the forest floor. They also have higher biodiversity, higher resilience to forest fires, and sequester more carbon than plantation forests. If left alone, they’re our future old growth forests!
Elwha River Watershed
With the removal of the 2 dams on the Elwha River, there’s over a $320 million dollar effort to restore the Elwha watershed. This includes work to restore salmon access to the Little River, Indian Creek, Lake Sutherland and other tributaries.
Legacy forests play a crucial role in protecting water quality. Trees in these forests act as natural filters, removing pollutants and contaminants from the water before it reaches streams, rivers, and lakes. They also help to prevent soil erosion and sedimentation, which can clog water sources and decrease their quality. Additionally, the root systems of trees in legacy forests help to regulate water flow and reduce the risk of flooding. Cutting down this forest would impact the quality of water sources in the area.
Because the Elwha River watershed is a primary source of water for the city of Port Angeles, the Port Angeles City Council requested that the Aldwell auction be put on hold, but the DNR ignored the request and the forest was logged.
The Port Angeles City Council also requested that the TCB23 and Power Plant auctions be paused.
Notable Quotes
Given in Support of the Campaign to Protect Elwha Legacy Forests
What is a Legacy Forest?
They are naturally regenerated 2nd growth forests and aren’t monoculture plantation forests, generally harvested prior to 1945. They contain large diameter trees, complex forest canopies & understories, biodiversity and old forest characteristics, including snag and large wood on the forest floor.

Aldwell before and after video. 🙁
We should not be logging these critical resources, which are only a small fraction (~3-5%) of the total state trust land forests that are available for timber harvests.
Conserving mature and old-growth forests is one of the most affordable and effective tools for fighting climate change. No human-made technology can match big trees for removing and storing climate pollution. If they are logged, most of that pollution is quickly released into the atmosphere and it takes many decades or centuries for younger trees to recapture it.
We have lost most of our mature and old-growth forests across the country due to past logging. This is a serious problem because healthy mature and old-growth forests provide drinking water to communities, protect fish and wildlife, and absorb and store vast amounts of climate pollution. To protect what we have left and recover what has been lost, it is critical that we protect both mature and old-growth forests from being cut down in the future.