State bans logging on forest lands due to fire danger

Logging and other industrial activities will be banned across Eastern Washington forests because of fire danger. It’s the first time in more than 20 years that the state has taken such a step. Fires have been burning across the state for weeks, some threatening cities and towns and others blackening remote stretches of timber and grassland. On Wednesday fires forced the evacuation of Twisp and Winthrop in the Methow Valley. The ban on industrial activities, which also includes road construction, will be phased in during the next couple of days. Forests in Klickitat County were affected today. At midnight Thursday forests in the counties of Spokane, Pend Oreille, Stevens, Ferry, and Okanogan will be closed to logging and construction. Then Friday bans will affect parts of Chelan, Kittitas, Yakima and Benton counties. The restrictions and specific locations are mapped on the website of the Washington Department of Natural Resources.