Washington State Department of Natural Resources

Everyone watching fires around Washington this week held their breath as about 600 lightning strikes hit the landscape across the state. The Washington State Department of Natural Resources, who, alongside agency partners, prepared for those conditions this week by pulling in out-of-state resources and pre-positioning crews. The lightning strikes ignited at least two fires in the state, the Easy fire and Swawilla fire. According to a public information officer on the Swawilla fire, a series of fires started from lightning strikes on the Colville Reservation this week.

It’s that time of year when flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing, and crews working for the Samish Indian Nation are scouting shorelines within the San Juan archipelago, looking for marine debris.

On Monday, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) decided to pause an auction of 102 acres of public, forested lands to harvest for timber in King County that had been scheduled for Tuesday.King County council members wrote a letter to Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz and the Board of Natural Resources last week, urging them to defer the auction.

(Runtime 1:07)In the eyes of the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, one big thing is missing from the state’s climate policies. Recent laws…

The Whatcom County Council made no specific recommendations on which county timberlands to conserve for the next phase of the Washington State Department of Natural Resources’ carbon offset project. In the letter, the council affirmed its commitment to work with the department, and instead of offering recommendations, asked the DNR to provide more information about the potential impacts of the project.

The Washington Department of Natural Resources violated state environmental laws when it failed to account for climate change, according to a Jefferson County Superior Court ruling.Last week, a superior court ruled the Washington Department of Natural Resources violated the state’s environmental protection act procedures in its preparation for two timber sales.