HomeMy WebLinkAbout011623 FW_ Pennywise
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From: Jessica Randall
Sent: Monday, January 16, 2023 11:48:04 PM (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)
To: olympic.region@dnr.wa.gov
Cc: fp_oly@dnr.wa.gov; duanne.emmons@dnr.wa.gov; Washington State Lands Working Group; Peter Goldman; Elizabeth Dunne; David Perk; Teri Wright; Heidi Eisenhour; Greg Brotherton; Kate
Dean; John Talberth; Stephen Kropp; bnr@dnr.wa.gov
Subject: Pennywise
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To Whom it Concerns,
It has come to our attention that the Pennywise Forest in Jefferson County, under great controversy to harvest at all from the start due to its ecological sovereignty, has been to date
illegally harvested.
Most of the "leave trees" have been cut and are staged at the logging road for imminent removal. It will likely happen in the early morning hours of 1/17/23. Some of the lower trunks
of the larger "leave trees" have been cut off and hidden in the slash piles, perhaps because their size would make them illegal to harvest. The slash piles are well stacked onto the
"leave tree" stumps, hiding them from view and eventually burning them into nonexistence. The logging company (Sierra Pacific) has attempted to obliterate the "leave tree' markings
by scraping the bark with their equipment, including the blue stripes around the trunks of the trees and other markings. This was only marginally successful, so many trees show partial
marking obliteration, making it in a way even more noticeable.
This and additional proof of this illegal harvest are well noted and significant evidence has been gathered.
The least the Department of Natural Resources can do in this day and age of climate change and species loss, is to enforce the integrity of the contracts of these timber companies, especially
in regard to our extremely small number of naturally regenerated and older forests upon which we all rely for many ecosystem services and species survival. It's remarkable to me that
the DNR would allow such degradation and selfish profiteering to occur under their watch. The whole operation seemed poised to selling off the larger trees, which the Jefferson County
Commissioners were convinced would stay by the DNR's earlier promises.
From the onset, the Pennywise Forest has been under dispute, and to take it down in such an egregious and illegal fashion is hopefully not a sign of the intentions of our public land
harvests moving forward.
Jessica Randall
Jefferson County, WA