1889 Magazine: Community forests in Washington preserve the woods while serving local values and needs

Forests have a natural tendency to unify the diverse. Plants and trees, mammals and birds, and humans from all walks of life can call the same forest home. Rather than just a bunch of trees, a forest is an ecosystem, a web of life. By providing wildlife habitat, wood products, drinking water, carbon sequestration, recreation, a good dose of serenity and plenty more, forests offer innumerable benefits to all involved, especially when managed by and for the common good.

Second only to Oregon, Washington is one of the country’s main providers of forest products. Essential for the state’s economy and for the nation’s growth, timber must be cut. But when the value of Washington’s forests is only measured in board feet and in dollars, the forest’s other range of values diminishes, and its ability to cultivate community unravels.

Enter Washington’s community forests. Owned and stewarded by and for the local community, the community forest model manages a forest’s many values so that ecosystem health, jobs and logs, access and recreation opportunities can all coexist. The forest stays whole, and all of its communities find what they need in the dominant feature of the Evergreen State.