Wildfires, timber industry sit front-and-center in the race or Washington lands commissioner

The future of Washington’s timber industry and strategies for preventing and fighting massive wildfires are at stake in the race to be the next state commissioner of public lands.

The position of commissioner, who serves a four-year term as the leader of Washington’s Department of Natural Resources, is on the Nov. 5 ballot. The state commissioner of public lands sits at the helm of a massive agency, overseeing 2,000 employees and 6 million acres of public land across Washington, including 3 million acres of state trust lands – parcels that generate revenue from logging that goes to government programs such as schools.

On Wednesday, candidates Dave Upthegrove and Jaime Herrera Beutler faced off in what was their first time sharing a debate stage. The biggest difference between the opponents is their plan for managing the state’s forest.

Herrera Beutler, a former state lawmaker and congresswoman, is a Republican running with a plan to grow the state’s timber industry. She said increased logging will provide money for struggling Washington schools. She noted that a large percentage of state lands already are off-limits to logging. She doesn’t support decreasing that, but stressed that acreage shouldn’t be boosted.

“We have our minds so wrapped around, ‘There’s only one way to protect the forest, and that’s to close it off, hug that tree and then walk away,’ ” Herrera Beutler said.

Upthegrove, a Metropolitan King County Council member, is running on a platform of strong conservation values, saying the state should protect its old-growth forests and set aside more land as protected while maintaining the state’s current timber output.

“We can do better,” Upthegrove said. “How? First, by making modest changes to where we harvest by deferring the harvest of a small group of older forests that have a tremendous benefit to climate and biodiversity.”

Last year, current Commissioner Hilary Franz announced she would not seek re-election for a third term and instead run for Congress.

Herrera Beutler, 45, took first place in a crowded Aug. 6 primary election, closely followed by Upthegrove and another Republican, Sue Kuehl Pederson. Razor-thin margins in the race spurred the first statewide hand recount of an election in 20 years. When all was said and done with the recount, Upthegrove barely edged out Kuehl Pederson, beating her by a mere 51 votes.

Johnathan Curley

A former U.S. representative, Herrera Beutler served for the 3rd Congressional District in southwest Washington from 2011 to 2022. She lost her bid for re-election in 2021, the same year she voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Before her time in Congress, Herrera Beutler, of Battle Ground, served in the Washington State House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011.

Upthegrove, 53, is the chair of the Metropolitan King County Council, where he’s served since 2014. From 2002 to 2013, he served in the state House where he represented South King County. While serving in that role, he chaired the Environment Committee and also served on the Local Government and Transportation Committee.

Johnathan Curley

The race for lands commissioner is the third-most expensive Washington state race this year, surpassed only by the races for governor and attorney general. To date, the candidates have spent a combined $2 million on the race.

Herrera Beutler has accepted donations from the timber industry. Her biggest donors include Western Forest Products, the American Forest Resource Council, and Sierra Pacific.

Upthegrove has refused donations from the timber industry. Washington Conservation Action, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and the nonprofit Justice For All are among his biggest donors.

Here’s a look at where Upthegrove and Herrera Beutler stand on key issues:

Forests

The biggest difference between Herrera Beutler and Upthegrove is their vision for the state’s 77,000 acres of “legacy forests,” or parcels of land with mature trees.

Herrera Beutler wants to use those lands for timber harvest.

“In Thurston County, there are three different sales right now that are supposed to be harvested but are on hold because of political pressure,” Herrera Beutler said. “That would generate millions of dollars for public schools in Thurston County.”

Upthegrove wants to change the state’s forest policy to protect legacy forests from future timber harvest. He said he doesn’t plan to decrease the state’s timber output but protect some state lands from logging while also buying private forests to log.

“The Legislature needs to fully fund our public school system,” Upthegrove said. “It’s currently underfunded. The Department of Natural Resources needs to manage our trust land in a way that would sustain that public funding.”

Wildfires

Over the past 10 years, an average of 470,000 acres have burned annually in the state. As the yearly fire season has lengthened and grown more severe in recent years, communities have faced catastrophic threats from major burns, and all residents deal with summers compromised by unhealthy smoke.

Upthegrove and Herrera Beutler agree that climate change is one of the most pressing issues for the state, country and world.

Herrera Beutler said many forests west of the Cascades are unhealthy and prone to higher fire danger. She said tree thinning from timber harvest across the state will make forests healthier.

“If we do that, we’re going to make sure that our public schools have more funding,” Herrera Beutler said. “If we do that, we’re going to pass on to the next generation of Washingtonians the legacy that we all cherish, which is a beautiful and abundant resource-rich state.”

Upthegrove believes increasing the amount of controlled burns and noncommercial and commercial thinning is the answer to the state’s wildfire crisis. He said if he’s elected, he plans to implement a monitoring system to track the effectiveness of forest fire prevention treatments.

“I don’t want to overlook routine things like invasive species removal and land maintenance,” Upthegrove said.

The Washington Commissioner of Public Lands serves a four-year term.

General election day is Nov. 5, and Washington ballots will be mailed out in mid-October. Voters must mail their ballots with a postmark of Nov. 5 or before, or place them in official county-designated dropboxes no later than 8 p.m. on Election Day.