Zoom in on the interactive Google Map to see where the DNR logged the ‘On the Line’ timber sale.
The ‘On the Line’ forest was auctioned off to a timber company and resulted in the clear-cut logging of 87 acres of mature legacy forest, turning it into a plantation tree farm. It also created 6,355 feet of new forest roads, which will be a permanent loss of carbon sequestration potential.
Walking through ‘On the Line’ Unit 1 was like walking through Olympic National Park. It was a complex, biodiverse and naturally regenerated legacy forest, containing large diameter trees, standing snags and large dead wood on the forest floor. It could have been a critical resource for our climate crisis and loss of biodiversity.
The Forestry Practices Application (FPA) and State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) resulted in a Mitigated Determination of Non-significance (MDNS). The timber sale was approved by the DNR Board of Natural Resources (BNR). The forest is now a clear-cut wasteland and compacted earth.
Logging has started!
Road building into the ‘On the Line’ legacy forest has started. The timber company is cutting down trees and plowing a road into the heart of the legacy forest, in preparation for clear-cutting this beautiful and interconnected ecosystem.
”"Effects of human disturbance on biodiversity are poorly known, and some impacts may be irreversible. Others such as synergistic and cumulative effects can be extremely difficult to quantify or predict…. [and] for some species will probably never be known… Ultimately, this makes large ecological reserves valuable as 'safety nets' relatively free from human disturbance."
Lindenmayer and Franklin (2002)
Help Us Protect Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the key to resilience in the time of the climate crisis. These complex forests are critical for preserving at-risk species.
Climate Change
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.
See the declaration from Dr. Dominick DellaSala (Chief Scientist at Wild Heritage) regarding climate aspects associated with logging on lands managed by the WA State DNR.
In the WA SEPA (State Environmental Policy Act) checklist for ‘On the Line’, there was no climate impact analysis done. With an estimated 4,922 MBF (thousand board feet) of forest to be cut down, this sale could release approximately 50,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. Numerous life cycle analyses have found that between 75% and 85% of the carbon stored in a timber sale will end up in the atmosphere in a relatively short period of time.
They include the emissions associated with the decay and combustion of logging residuals, and carbon released from disturbed soils. They include fossil fuel emissions associated with diesel and gasoline powered machinery used during logging and road building. They include the carbon lost to the atmosphere as logging residues decay or are burned. They include the fossil fuel emissions generated by transport, and during the manufacturing process.
'On the Line' legacy forest rivals the beauty and majesty of forests in Olympic National Park.
Mature Trees
This forest contains a large number of old growth, mature trees. It features large douglas fir, western hemlocks, western red cedar, big leaf maple and red alders.
Complex Forest
'On the Line' is a complex, biodiverse and naturally regenerated mature forest. It has many snags and large wood on the forest floor, providing critical habitat. There's a complex forest canopy and understory, with a wide variety of plant species.
Read the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition’s letter of opposition to the WA DNR Board of Natural Resources regarding ‘On the Line’ and other upcoming timber sales.
All images are ©Forest2Sea unless otherwise noted. Please contact us if you’d like to use any of these images to help save our legacy forests!
