This is the kind of lawsuit I find very useful. Status quo is not always legally correct, and challenging the notion that the only thing we can do with public forests is cut them for educational funding has never seemed correct. Our naive ancestors thought that what seemed like endless supplies of trees could fund education forever. We now know how simplistic that idea was. So we’ll find out if the court agrees. Big ramifications if they do. Everyone in this case are folks I’ve met and have a great deal of respect for their stances.
OFCO and colleague plaintiffs Washington Environment Council and Conservation Northwest, and individual plaintiffs Marcy Golde, Peter Bahls, et al, are before the Washington Supreme Court this Thursday, October 21st at approximately 10:00 AM in the “All the People” case. The lawsuit seeks to remove a barrier to balanced and ecological forest management by giving DNR the discretion to pursue timber harvest alongside other benefits. Timber production and associated revenue for beneficiaries, carbon management promoting climate stability, protections of clean water, species and habitats and against landslides and floods during extreme weather events, regrowth of older, complex forests for future generations, as well as non-timber forest products, cultural value, and recreation.
Our lawyer, Wyatt Golding from Chestnut Zioinzt, will argue the case for “All the People” of Washington (Conservation NW, et al. v. Commissioner of Public Lands et al., No. 99183-9). The case centers on the interpretation of the Washington Constitution and the federal land grant when we became a state. Article 16, Section 1 of the Washington State Constitution states that “all the public lands granted to the state are held in trust for “all the people”.
You may watch the hearing on state TVW.
See https://www.tvw.org/watch/?eventID=2021101173
Filed under: Environmental Activism, Environmental Law, Events |
