Forest restoration

Sustaining our national forests

It used to be we spent much of our time hounding the Forest Service to stop heinous old growth timber sales. That's changed. In Washington, the agency has largely dropped its focus on logging old growth, thanks in part to our persistence and work.

Today our focus is on carefully conceived restoration projects and ecological restoration of our national forests. We've urged the Forest Service to embrace an ecological plan for national forests, to conserve and restore forests and repair and prepare them for climate change. And it's working.

Over the last century, old-growth forests were cut at a furious rate, and extensive second-growth stands grew back. Densely grown, fire prone, and composed of only one or two tree species, these younger forests act more like monoculture plantations than natural forests. They make lousy habitat for plants and animals. But using ecological restoration, planted forests can be diversified to promote healthy, functional habitat for a variety of wildlife.

Hundreds of thousands of acres of second-growth forest in Washington are today fertile ground for collaboration between conservationists, timber interests, and local communities. Restoration–from careful thinning to old roads closures–breathes life into these forests. 

Over the years, Conservation Northwest, working in collaboration, has made good headway for forest restoration on Washington's national forests. We've helped restore habitat degraded by roads and improve forest sales in young managed stands, for wildlife and habitat. We've helped fireproof forests near communities and restore older stands to old-growth conditions. Collaborative work has benefited thousands of acres of Washington forests. Here are our accomplishments restoration in 2008 and restoration in 2007. In the North Cascades we are active in many different and complimentary restoration projects.

Forest restoration benefits forests, wildlife, and communities. Restoration tools:

• Partnership. We cooperate with diverse interests groups and the Forest Service to create positive and beneficial solutions for forests and communities.

• Treatment. Where appropriate, we encourage restoration treatment of the forest understory to restore ecological functioning. Thinning and burning of smaller trees in the understory dampens the spread of wildfire, protecting people and their homes. That improves the health of overstory trees, making them better able to withstand disease, insects, and fire. And as they grow into larger, older trees they become better places for wildlife.

• Repair. We support restoring damaged lands through tools such as removing failing roads, replanting riparian areas, and controlling and preventing spread of noxious weeds.

• Investment. We work to provide reinvestment opportunities for rural communities to maintain their long-standing contribution to the national forest products industry. Small diameter wood for milling is a valuable product that comes from thinning.

• Solutions. Large-scale planning helps reduce forest fragmentation and prepare whole ecosystems for climate change over the long term, a good investment for the future.