In 2024, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (WSDNR) sold the logging rights to a piece of public land known as the "Doc Holliday" forest. The forest included old-growth trees and a well-established ecosystem.
When efforts to convince WSDNR to rescind the sale failed, Elwha Legacy Forests and its partners reached an agreement with the logging company. The company would not log the forest if the environmental advocates could raise enough money to compensate for the lost timber profits.
Earlier this month, Elwha Legacy Forests announced that it had reached its fund-raising goal. Although a few acres of the forest had been logged, the majority of it will continue to stand. All told, the campaign to protect this public forest raised more than $560,000 in a few months.
Buying public forests to prevent logging on them is an interesting strategy. I can't say for sure that it's always going to work, but one forest still stands because of it, and that's good news.
