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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 15d

But Upthegrove wants to change the system entirely. The plan proposes that revenue will eventually come from carbon credits and other to-be-purchased sites at risk of conversion to non-forest uses, like development.

He calls the timber-funding-schools model "archaic."

Read the full story on HCN!

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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 15d

Environmental groups have applauded the initial proposal but look forward to collaboratively homing in on which stands will be conserved under the new plan.

Timber advocates and some local officials worry that removing 77k acres from harvest will shrink funding for public schools, mostly rural.

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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 15d

Upthegrove in August proposed conserving 77,000 acres of "structurally complex forest," or older (but not 'old growth') forests with diverse tree types and ages and other plants.

How do you know you're in one?

"You just get that warm, fuzzy, green, mossy feeling,” one forest scientist said.

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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 15d

Washington state has 2.4 million acres of forest held in trust. Half of that is already conserved; the other half is harvestable timber. Revenue from timber goes largely to public schools.

But "we shouldn't be pitting children against trees," says public lands commissioner Dave Upthegrove.

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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 15d

Economy or environment? That's the question that plagues public land managers, and Washington's forests are not immune. 77,000 acres of ecologically important stands will be conserved, but some worry rural schools will lose out.

For @highcountrynews.org:
www.hcn.org/articles/was...

Washington moves to conserve its state forests - High Country News

The proposal would protect 77,000 acres of ‘structurally complex’ forests.

www.hcn.org

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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · Aug 6

Check out the rest of the story to read how the state is planning for fires in western Washington!

And some good news: we finally got a summer rain today, granting firefighters a brief reprieve in the fire's spread.

app.watchduty.org/i/54759

Watch Duty - Wildfire Maps & Alerts

Real-time information about wildfire and firefighting efforts nearby

app.watchduty.org

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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · Aug 6

But if conditions are just right — or just wrong — a smoldering fire can turn into a scorcher. Strong, dry winds from the east can spur fire on.

It's why firefighters keep an uneasy eye on fires than seem to be slowly growing in the Olympics. Any one, they worry, could turn into "the big one."

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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · Aug 6

Overall, it's a recipe for more fire starts.

Many fires in wet western forests don't race along — they smolder, spreading slowly through dense, damp undergrowth. But rugged terrain and thick canopies mean those fires can be hard to fight.

Autumn rains often put them out.

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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · Aug 6

And Washington's fire seasons are getting longer, hotter and drier. That means more dry fuels and an expanded window for ignitions.

And swelling populations throughout Puget Sound increase the odds of humans lighting fires, whether from a stray campfire ember or a flicked cigarette butt.

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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · Aug 6

Wildfire, for the most part, isn't a natural part of the rhythms west of the Cascades. In the east, it's cyclic, similar to arid parts of California and Oregon that see annual fires.

But in western Washington, forest fires hit once every few hundred, or even a thousand, years. But they hit big.

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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · Aug 6

A wildfire has been burning in the Olympic Peninsula for a month, growing to more than 5,100 acres at just 3% containment.

Washington state is working to raise awareness of fire risk in its wet, forested environs and developing a plan to best fight fires here.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/c...

Washington State Braces for ‘Inevitable’ Megafire. Climate Change May Bring It Sooner.

www.nytimes.com

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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · Jul 22

“Climate change is loading the dice for extreme fire seasons like we’ve seen,” said @climate-guy.bsky.social. “There are going to be more fires like this.”

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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · Jul 22

Recovery can take decades. But there’s no guarantee forests will grow back the same, because with climate change, they might be growing back under different conditions.

Whole forest ecosystems can be lost.

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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · Jul 22

And extreme fire weather is on the rise, one study found.

That’s leading to more forest fires, which emit carbon dioxide, which increases warming… a dangerous loop, experts said.

Biodiversity is also lost in fires.

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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · Jul 22

Forests lost about twice the canopy in 2023 and 2024 than the annual average for the previous two decades, one new study found.

Even remote forests with little human activity burned. That clearly points to climate change as a driver of fires, scientists said.

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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · Jul 22

Climate change is whipping up worse fire weather and more severe fire seasons. Longer hot dry spells mean drought-stricken soils and crispy vegetation, and when the winds shift and something sparks—wildfire.

In 2023 and 2024, forests were hit hard, two studies show.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/c...