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Washington’s Working Forests May 2020 Newsletter



What are “Working Forests?”


A Working Forest is professionally managed to provide a continuous supply of renewable, sustainable wood products for building materials — with a focus on protecting fish, water and wildlife. Using scientific practices and adhering to comprehensive state forestry laws, Washington’s working forests work to give back to our entire state. Growing working forests absorb carbon, wood products store carbon, and the forest sector taken as a whole currently operates with a negative carbon footprint that supports greenhouse gas reduction goals and rural economies across Washington, a fact that is recognized in state law.

good news from the woods

New “Future” campaign shares optimistic message about role of working forestry with Puget Sound residents

“We’re continuing to replant trees, so when the world is ready, we’ll be ready.”

Our Puget Sound readers should look for a fresh, optimistic message about the role of working forestry to begin appearing on local screens soon.

The critical value of work being done to maintain healthy working forest landscapes for our future are cornerstone themes of a new campaign that will play during the late spring and early summer on TVs and devices in the Central Puget Sound.

From the One Voice for Working Forests blog:

Forestry has always been about the future and taking a long-viewed approach. By the very nature of what they do, the stewards of sustainably managed working forests must plan decades ahead since it can take a half-century before the saplings planted today are harvested.

Encapsulating the forward-looking mindset of working forests, the Washington Forest Protection Association (WFPA) has introduced a series of videos and a website that shares with the public the optimism and long-range planning that is innate in our state’s tree growers and private forestland owners.

“Working forests provide an uplifting message of hope,” said WFPA Executive Director Mark Doumit. “Working forests have an eye toward the future. For every tree that is harvested, three more are planted in its place with the idea that it will be collected 40 to 80 years from now. The work that foresters are doing today, they may never see the maturity of that stand. That’s the investment and forward-thinking that is required for a sustainable working forest.”

The videos include a 30-second message and two 15-second shorts that focus on a promising future and potential for tomorrow that working forests bring to our state. …

Click here to read more, and click here to visit the campaign’s landing page where you can see the entire spot even if you live outside the Puget Sound area. Just click on the “See Our Future” button on the page.

shareable, informative bonus content

This month, we’re also sharing a special item at The Seattle Times.

 

The entire forest sector – from forests where trees are grown and harvested, to mills that produce lumber, paper and tissue, to the many products and industries that require those materials and that are needed every day across society. What often goes undiscussed is how the forest sector has adapted over time to become an efficient and interdependent system, and that significant problems can arise when parts of the system don’t move well. From the piece:

Orange juice cartons. Toilet paper. Electricity. Coffee cups. Lumber. The one thing all these things have in common? Trees. It’s easy to forget the many ways the forest industry supports our daily lives — from seedling nurseries and truck drivers to sawmills and paper manufacturers.  But each step in the chain is dependent on the other, as illustrated by the COVID-19 outbreak. 

When Gov. Jay Inslee first issued his “stay home, stay safe” order in mid-March, most area construction projects were put on hold, causing a ripple effect felt throughout the entire forest sector supply chain.

No movement on residential and commercial projects meant decreased demand for solid wood products, from basic lumber and cutting boards to cabinets and insulation. …
This resulted in a slowdown at sawmills, but the production ripples extend out even further. Less demand for whole logs means less demand for truckers transporting those logs, and less demand for people cutting down the trees. …

Some sawmills and pulp and paper facilities in the Northwest also serve as co-generation plants, burning wood waste, the byproduct of sawmilling, to produce renewable biomass electricity and steam. Not only does this electricity and steam power the mills themselves, it gets sold to the larger grid, helping to supply additional green power to the general public. Fewer actual logs being milled into lumber also means less wood chips and sawdust being sold to paper manufacturers.

Click here to read the entire article. This is one informative colla you will want to enjoy and share with others.

have you signed?

The petition drive is still moving forward for the creation
of this special Washington state vehicle license plate supporting
working forests. Your help is still needed. Share our petition with your friends. Make
sure our voices are heard.

How much do working forestry and wood products mean to Washington state?

An awful lot.

Our interactive map tells the whole story. Click to learn more.

did you know?

 

Did you know that 52 million trees are planted on average each year in Washington State’s working forests? That number represents the planting of 3 trees for each one that is harvested, a statistic that is at the core of sustainable practices for maintaining healthy working forested landscapes for the future.

 

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