Article on forest conservation explained need for protection

Thanks to The Herald for its continued coverage of important environmental issues in our county. Julie Titone’s careful research into the issues, and the details she provides, make her articles compelling. The recent report about citizen efforts to protect our most significant trees is a good example of that work (“To speak for trees, Snohomish County activists arms themselves with data,” The Herald, July 26).

While there are many acres of “legacy forests” already protected, there are 127,000 acres of these mature, carbon-dense, structurally complex forests in our county that are not protected. The article’s explanation of why those forests are especially critical to combatting the climate crisis we are facing is particularly informative.

I hope our county leaders will be impressed by the fact that several other county councils have submitted letters to our state public lands commissioner asking to conserve mature forests on public lands. This article also pointed out support for tree protection from influential voices such as that of Peter Goldmark, former lands commissioner, his predecessor at the Department of Natural Resources Jennifer Belcher, and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal. Reykdal’s support is particularly significant since a major argument for cutting trees is that schools benefit from logging proceeds. However Reykdal says that timber sales funded just 1 percent of school construction.

Marjie Fields

Edmonds