Conservation groups join lawsuit to defend streams from logging damage

Last Friday, conservation groups were granted intervention in a lawsuit filed by the timber industry against the Washington Department of Natural Resources, Washington Department of Ecology, and the Forest Practices Board. The lawsuit seeks to remove protections for forests along headwater streams that provide cool, clean water to downstream habitats supporting salmon, salamanders, and communities. Conservation groups will join state agencies in defending these science-based protections and Washington’s commitment to a healthy environment.

The lawsuit was filed after the Forest Practices Board adopted an update to an existing rule. The rule was the product of decades of collaborative scientific research supported by the timber industry, Tribes, agencies, counties, and the conservation community. This state-funded science demonstrated that wider, continuous forested buffers along headwater streams are necessary to ensure streams remain cool and clean. The new rule provides 50- to 75-foot wide buffers along more than 19,000 miles of headwater streams on the Westside of the state.

“The science is clear: this updated rule is needed to achieve our state’s water quality standards. The timber industry co-developed the science that shaped this policy,” said Rachel Baker, Forest Program Director, Washington Conservation Action. “To now reject the outcome of this process undermines the integrity of Washington’s unique collaborative, science-based forest management.”

“The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community strongly supports the Forest Practices Board’s riparian habitat buffer rule because it provides the necessary science-based water quality protections our salmon need to recover,” said Swinomish Sen. Jeremy “JJ” Wilbur. “As People of the Salmon, Swinomish appreciates our state agency and conservation partners’ work to defend this important rule. As stewards of our lands and waters since time immemorial, the Swinomish Tribe will continue to honor the deal struck decades ago to ensure that our rivers always have wild salmon so that future generations can practice our cultural lifeways and exercise their Treaty rights.”

These headwater streams flow from high in the mountains, and run year-round. Although they do not contain fish, they are critical for downstream habitat. These waterways play an essential role in supporting salmon, trout, and other aquatic species transporting high quality water, large woody material and nutrients downstream. Salmon and trout are cold-water species that suffer significant stress, disease susceptibility, and mortality when stream temperatures are too high.

“Headwater streams are the lifeblood of our watersheds,” said Dave Werntz, Science and Conservation Director at Conservation Northwest, “When headwater streams are degraded, the impacts ripple downstream, affecting fish, wildlife, and communities. This rule being challenged maintains the ecological connections that sustain wildlife across Washington.”

The old rules allowed forests to be clearcut along half the length of these streams. Over the last 20 years, rigorous studies and monitoring demonstrated that fragmented and degraded streamside buffers are inadequate, highlighting the need for continuous buffers that the updated rule provides. Recognizing the change may cause financial pressures on small forest landowners, the rulemaking process generated strategies to protect livelihoods and vital aquatic ecosystems.

Washington Conservation Action and Conservation Northwest are represented by Oliver Stiefel and Kelsey Dunn of Crag Law Center, and Paul Kampmeier of Kampmeier & Knutsen PLLC.