DNR Lays Out Strategy to Ensure Healthy Forests in Western Washington

The Western Washington Forest Health Strategic Plan sets goals for forest and watershed health, rural economies, and equitable access to forest benefits

The Washington State Department of Natural Resources today published the first ever Western Washington Forest Health Strategic Plan. Drafted in response to increasing pressures and stressors affecting forest health from the Olympic Peninsula to the Columbia Gorge, the plan sets the strategic vision to ensure a future of healthy forests in western Washington.

Built around five overarching goals, this strategy seeks to reinforce and support existing forest health initiatives. It also identifies new areas of focus guided by the same all lands, all hands ethos at the core of the 20-Year Forest Health Strategic Plan: Eastern Washington.

"Ensuring a future of healthy forests in western Washington has never been more urgent and the challenges they face have never been more complex and interconnected," said Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove. "This plan provides us with the guiding principles and tangible, shared actions we can take to protect our forests now and for our kids and grandkids."

Besides specific action items, such as creating and implementing a Western Washington National Forest Road Strategy and increasing natural resource workforce housing availability and affordability in rural and Tribal communities, the strategic plan includes the history of how wildfire has impacted forests in western Washington and other emerging forest health issues affecting the region.

Though large wildfires are much less common in western Washington than in the eastern part of the state, the risks a large wildfire can pose to critical habitat, infrastructure, property, and lives are often higher. Western Washington accounts for about 30 percent of the state's land but is home to more than 60 percent of its residents.

"Wildfire impacts all of us, from the Peninsula to the Palouse, and the risk of catastrophic wildfires in Western Washington is growing," Upthegrove said. "Our forests face an accelerating mix of threats, like longer and hotter droughts and intense heat events that we know put trees under intense stress and make them more susceptible to not only wildfire, but also mortality caused by insects and diseases."

For this plan, DNR followed an approach like the one that resulted in the 20-Year Forest Health Strategic Plan: Eastern Washington. The agency and its partners representing federal, state, and local governments, nonprofits and non-governmental organizations, Tribes, academia, and the private sector began working in 2020 on a coordinated process that emphasized meaningful engagement and shared learning.

The Forest Health Advisory Committee provided an initial set of recommendations in 2024 to help shape the initial scope and structure of the plan. A work group of more than 50 people met twice in 2025 to refine the plan's mission statement, goals, and strategic priorities. The group also hosted three field visits in Snohomish, Lewis, and Jefferson Counties to hear from additional stakeholders and engaged in extensive outreach with Tribal governments to ensure Indigenous knowledge and priorities are incorporated throughout the plan.

The Western Washington Forest Health Strategic Plan is included as part of the 2025 Washington State Forest Action Plan submitted to the USDA Forest Service this month in accordance with Farm Bill rules to keep Washington eligible for funding from USDA Forest Service State and Private Forestry programs.

Click here for more information on the Western Washington Forest Health Strategic Plan and download a copy of the plan itself.

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