Upthegrove Statement on Court Ruling Halting Logging Over Climate Impacts

March 28, 2024

Councilmember Dave Upthegrove released the following statement Thursday in response to the King County Superior Court ruling that a proposed timber sale northeast of Seattle would violate the State Environmental Policy Act. The court halted the Wishbone Timber Sale, a 100-acre legacy forest in the Tolt and Snoqualmie River basins. It had been previously paused by the Department of Natural Resources after Upthegrove and fellow councilmembers sent a letter asking for the accounting of climate impacts associated with the logging of mature, legacy forests.

“I applaud the court for recognizing the need for an honest accounting of the carbon impacts of logging activities on public lands. At the end of the day, we need to end the destruction of our mature legacy forests. They make up a tiny part of our public forestlands but have an outsized impact on our climate.”