Legal Roots

An important case, one that could return the Evergreen State's definition of "state forest" to its roots, reached the Washington State Supreme Court this month.

Upon earning statehood in 1889, Washington state received a land grant for state lands from the United States Congress. The land came with the stipulation that "all the public lands granted to the state are held in trust for all the people."

For years, Washington's forests have been managed to produce timber harvest. The proceeds of the logging are then applied to funding for the state's schools. Conservation Northwest is challenging this approach, arguing that it fails to live up to the expectations of holding the land in trust for all the people.

If Conservation Northwest prevails in the case, the outcome will alter how the state manages its forests. Such changes could plant the seeds for using forests in Washington to sequester carbon. It would also seemingly return the forest-management process to its roots, allowing the original intention of the land grant to be fulfilled. For more information about the case, click here.

Let's hope the Washington State Supreme Court doesn't cut down Conservation Northwest's case.

Law of the Land

As the National Wildlife Federation reports, earlier this year, Bolivia granted legal rights to nature. This is a very interesting development, and it continues a conversation that is beginning to pick up steam.

I think it is important that we consider the possibility that nature has legal rights. First, it challenges our traditional views about our relationship with nature, and when we start to examine our views, we can develop them. Second, our consumption of resources is driven by the belief that they exist for our benefit, creating a way of life that often jeopardizes the well-being of the planet as well as ourselves; but seeing nature as having rights revolves around the idea of safeguarding the natural world's welfare, a focus that may also protect us.

It will be exciting if more people follow Bolivia's lead and pick up the discussion about nature's rights.