Conserving Public Lands

Speaking of public lands, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (WSDNR) announced on August 26 a new approach to forest management that will help conserve public forests in the state.

After I wrote my last two blog entries about the threats posed to public lands by private interests and the need to preserve those lands, the announcement from WSDNR that it will conserve 77,000 acres of forest owned by the state, including all remaining 10,000 acres of older forest, called for a third post.

In the past, WSDNR has often sided with private interests in the choices it's made about Washington's forests, meaning Tuesday's announcement represented a substantial and welcome shift in policy. As my earlier posts argued, a renewed effort to protect public lands is much needed these days, so WSDNR's new policy comes at a crucial time. It's a big win for environmental advocates and defenders of the public good, and hopefully, it's a step toward a better future.

Conserving the forests covered by the new policy also helps address global warming. The older forests can store carbon, and they give WSDNR the ability to sell carbon credits, proving that protecting public lands pays off environmentally and economically.

I wish to thank WSDNR and Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove for instituting this policy. Upthegrove became commissioner in January after winning election in November 2024, and so far, he has demonstrated the vision and courage to lead the department and defend public lands. Thank you for protecting the public interest through conservation.

Protecting Public Lands

My last entry ended with a call for supporters of the public good to summon their strength and defend public lands against exploitation by private interests. Just a few days later, I found myself on a hike with a group that has already joined that fight.

I didn't have the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition of Washington (LFDC) in mind when I wrote last month's blog entry, but it was clear early on in their hike through a forest that had been hastily sold for clearcutting by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (WSDNR) that the organization's environmental work was exactly the kind of thing I meant.

The LFDC employs two strategies that are particularly important in protecting public lands. First, they challenge forest sales that violate WSDNR's own policies regarding the preservation of old growth timber. For example, after the sale of the forest I was touring had been fast-tracked late in 2024 by Hilary Franz, WSDNR's outgoing commissioner, LFDC asked for and received a restraining order against the logging of the forest. The organization is now in court to overturn the sale.

The second important strategy LFDC uses is bringing people together to protect these public forests. By organizing and guiding the hikes through the forests, LFDC establishes relationships and collective power around the issue of protecting public lands. The hikes also help connect people with these shared forests.

If we are going to succeed in pushing back against the private exploitation of our public lands, we should look at the model used by LFDC for guidance.

Plundering Public Lands

The effort to turn public money, resources, and programs into gains for private interest has reached a fever pitch in the United States, resulting in an onslaught of efforts to plunder public lands.

After first establishing a footing in American politics in the 1970s, the neoliberal project to turn everything public into a money-making scheme for corporations and the wealthy has grown into an insatiable colossus, setting aside any pretext of benefiting the public through "trickle-down economics" and grabbing anything it can instead. The recent attempts by the U.S. Congress to sell off millions of acres of public land demonstrate the level to which this greed has risen.

We've certainly seen many strategies for turning things that belong to the public into windfalls for the rich. The undermining of public education with charter schools, many of which are controlled by hedge funds would be one example. The rush by the George W. Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations to sell off public lands for oil and gas exploration would be another. On a smaller scale, many municipalities have sold infrastructure and utilities to private companies, which pillage the resources and jack up prices on citizens.

Over the years, politicians from both the Republican and Democratic parties have become increasingly eager to facilitate this neoliberal plundering. The fervor exhibited during the recent attempt to sell off the public lands shows how rabid the supporters of this approach have become. Although this push was turned back, I doubt it will be last such effort.

With the greed of private interests so strong, supporters of the public good need to summon all their strength and defend what we have left.

I Wonder Why

A negative and growing trend in recent years raised a perplexing question for me: Why would anyone travel out of their way to trash or deface public lands?

To be honest, I haven't really found a sufficient answer to that question. However, in pondering it, I did realize that littering, dumping, or tagging on public lands, including parks, wildlife areas, preserves, and hiking trails, destroys more than just the environment of those spaces; it also destroys a shared commitment.

I don't know why people leave litter or graffiti in out-of-the-way public spaces. (It seems like a lot of effort to make when the same things could be done without having to drive anywhere.) No matter the reason though, these actions undermine our sense of connection to the defaced places, the commitment we make to caring for the places, and the societal bond that forms through such commitments. 

Maybe that's the point of leaving that trash or graffiti. If it is, I'm still left with my question: Why?