Jack Davis Conservationist of the Year Award – 2023
The Jack Davis Conservationist of the Year Award for 2023 goes to the Legacy Forest Project for its work in collaboration with the Center for Responsible Forestry. The informally organized Legacy Forest Project is a local group that preserves legacy forests and does so in association with the more formal Center for Responsible Forestry, which operates in western Washington. We especially recognize Greg Bargmann for his keystone work as part of the Legacy Forest Project. The award will be presented at the Black Hills Audubon Annual Picnic on June 25, at the Rose Garden shelter in Squaxin Park.
The work focuses on forests managed by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). It is particularly directed toward mixed species forests that are naturally regenerated, structurally complex, and on a healthy trajectory to old growth and sustained habitat for many species of wildlife. Such forests contrast with mono-crop, single-age plantations, a.k.a. “tree farms,” which are disease and fire-prone.
The unique nature of these carbon-dense “Legacy Forests” provides diverse wildlife habitat and the ability for the public to engage with such forests, often in local settings. Given the dominance of the industrial logging paradigm, which seeks to convert these Legacy Forests into lumber and plywood, it has been a challenge to move the dial so these stunning forests together with the wildlife they support are not logged.
The Legacy Forest Project was formed in Thurston County by a group of neighbors concerned about a proposed timber cut that would fundamentally change the character of the community. The group began reaching out to DNR but soon realized that their small group needed more expertise and resources to convince DNR not to cut these Legacy Forests. In this way, the Legacy Forest Project and the Center For Responsible Forestry (C4RF) found each other.
Beginning in 2020, the non-profit C4RF has fought to preserve Legacy Forests from being converted to plantation forests and cut. It has supported the Legacy Forest Project by providing communication support, data, research, publicity, and opportunities for networking.
Over the last several years, the members and leadership of both the Legacy Forest Project and C4RF have:
- Provided significant and frequent comments relative to preserving Legacy Forests at the monthly DNR meetings.
- Engaged local government leaders to educate them on the value of preserving Legacy Forests resulting in a formal request to DNR by the Board of County Commissioners to oppose logging of selected Legacy Forests in Capitol Forest.
- Hosted walks in DNR Legacy Forests to showcase their extraordinary beauty and diversity.
- Educated and informed the public concerning support for preserving these forests.
- Engaged with DNR to provide data and promote alternative management concepts such as Carbon Sequestration.
- Provided information to media organizations on the public value of legacy forests beyond cutting for timber sales.
Several proposed timber sales of DNR tracts in Thurston County have been mitigated or averted, including the Oracle and Critter Units, and portions of the Smuggler Unit.
Both organizations continue to work to stop the Legacy Forest sales planned by DNR and influence a change to DNR policy to a new direction balancing the financial needs of DNR Trust Lands with the needs of the environment, wildlife habitat, and the public to whom these forests belong.
Members of the Legacy Forest Project
Bruce Anderson
Greg Bargmann
Bonnie Blessing
Paul Butler
Peggy Butler
Shane Carlson
JC Davis
Sherri Dysart
Lynn Fitz-Hugh
Miranda Mellis
Robert Metzger
Cynthia Moe-Lobeda
Victor Osprescu
Eirik Steinhoff (LFP and C4RF)
Kim Walter
Christy White
Photo credit: Pacific Northwest Forest, by Rachel Hudson.
