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King County 30-Year Forest Plan: Forests for Our Future
Overview of the 30-Year Forest Plan, including priorities and goals described in the plan and the process of developing the plan.
One of the most notable features of our region is our vibrant forests.
Forests provide benefits to communities throughout King County. These benefits include storing carbon, which is important for our climate, and improving water and air quality. They also provide habitat for salmon and other wildlife, reduce the amount of stormwater runoff that reaches rivers and streams, and provide places for recreation and cool shade for streams and sidewalks.
We want to make sure that county forests continue to provide these benefits, so we worked with partners to develop a plan. We know that we must work together to protect and manage our forests to make sure they are in good health now and remain healthy as the climate changes. We gathered ideas from King County staff, Tribes, nonprofits, cities, forestland owners and managers, and community members to develop the Forest Plan.
We collected the ideas we heard and identified seven priority areas related to the value and benefits of forests and goals for each priority area.
The seven priority areas and related goals identified in the Forest Plan include:
Climate:
Contribute to climate change mitigation by increasing carbon sequestration and storage in King County forests and increase resilience and preparedness for climate change effects on forests.
- Increase the amount of carbon stored in forests in King County to the greatest extent practicable while protecting biodiversity and improving forest health.
- Increase the resilience of existing forests and newly planted trees to the effects of climate change.
- Improve the preparedness of communities near forests for potential increase in fire risk caused by climate change.
- Equity and cultural resources: Maintain western redcedar, which may be susceptible to drought stress associated with climate change, and other species of cultural significance that provide cultural resources and values to area Tribes.
Forest health:
Improve and restore forest health, including increasing resilience to disease, invasive species, drought, and climate change; sustaining biodiversity, improving wildlife habitat, and restoring connectivity; and maintaining or improving ecological functions.
- Increase the area of healthy and resilient forestland.
- Increase connectivity of protected forestland to improve wildlife habitat.
- Equity and cultural resources: Create a broader public understanding of pre-settlement forest stewardship by the Coast Salish peoples and the resulting forest conditions as a baseline for healthy, complex, and biodiverse forests; improve forest conditions that support the ability of Tribes to exercise treaty rights and cultural practices; improve forest health in forests close to underserved communities.
Urban forest canopy:
Increase tree canopy in urban areas, with a focus on areas with the lowest canopy cover, and maintain and improve the health of existing urban forests.
- Maintain and increase existing tree canopy in urban areas, prioritizing areas with low canopy cover.
- Maintain urban trees and improve urban forest health.
- Equity and cultural resources: Increase tree canopy above current baseline in urban unincorporated areas with low canopy cover and support urban forest projects as a foundation for youth training to develop tomorrow’s forestry leaders.
Human health:
Prioritize tree canopy improvements and increased access to forested spaces to improve human health outcomes and advance health equity.
- Increase tree canopy with improvements focused in geographies and communities with residential areas subject to high levels of summer heat and/or pollution or other human health disparities.
- Improve access to forested spaces, prioritizing communities where the needs are greatest, and support outdoor recreation opportunities that can provide physical and mental health benefits.
- Equity and cultural resources: Increase use, engagement, and sense of belonging in forested parks where access to or use of parks and green space is below the regional average.
Salmon habitat:
Increase and improve forest cover and condition in areas where it can enhance salmon habitat.
- Protect, increase, and improve the extent and health of riparian forests.
- Protect, increase, and improve the extent and forest health in the headwaters of salmon streams to improve ecological function and protect water quality and quantity.
- Equity and cultural resources: Align salmon habitat restoration with Tribal priorities and use culturally important plant species in salmon habitat restoration.
Water quality and quantity:
Maintain and expand forest canopy where it provides the most benefit for improving water quality and quantity, reducing stormwater runoff, and reducing flooding.
- Maintain and expand forest cover in areas identified as having poor water quality or high pollutant loads to streams and rivers, where forest cover improvement can provide benefits.
- Maintain and expand forest cover to improve water quantity conditions in areas identified as having high potential to mitigate flooding or where protecting groundwater is a priority.
- Equity and cultural resources: Integrate equity considerations into prioritization of stormwater projects involving forest cover.
Sustainable timber:
Support an ecologically sustainable and economically viable timber industry that promotes maintenance of ecological functions in working forests and local economic development.
- Maintain healthy working forests and prevent forest fragmentation and the conversion of working forests to non-forested uses.
- Increase the use of forestry practices that improve ecological functions (such as carbon sequestration, fish and wildlife habitat, and hydrologic cycling) in working forests.
- Improve access to and condition of infrastructure and markets that support sustainable forestry practices.
- Equity and cultural resources: Increase equity in the timber industry and diversity of forestry professionals, in particular those trained in ecological forest management practices and the cultural importance of forests.
We began implementing the Forest Plan in 2021. We began by working on pilot projects developed for each of the priority areas. We are also working on actions that are part of the forestry section of the 2020 King County Strategic Climate Action Plan.