Dave Upthegrove, a Democrat who is keen to preserve thousands of acres of state forests that could otherwise be logged, was leading the Washington lands commissioner race over Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler.
Upthegrove was ahead Tuesday night with 53% of the vote to Herrera Beutler’s 47%. Vote counting will continue in the days ahead.
Washington’s lands commissioner runs the Department of Natural Resources, the agency that manages nearly 6 million acres of public land. This includes about 3 million acres of state “trust land,” which generates revenue, mostly from logging, for schools and other parts of government. The department is also Washington’s lead wildfire-fighting agency.
Upthegrove chairs the King County Council and previously served five terms in the state House, where he chaired the Environment Committee. He has the backing of major environmental and conservation groups in the state.
Herrera Beutler represented southwest Washington’s 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House from 2011 until 2023. And she held a seat in the state House from 2007 until 2010.
She was among 10 U.S. House Republicans to vote to impeach former President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. After that, she lost her bid for reelection in the 2022 primary. This race is her first foray back into electoral politics and she represented one of her party’s best chances to win a statewide office this year.
A focal point in this year’s lands commissioner race is Upthegrove’s plan for preserving nearly 80,000 acres of older, but not necessarily old-growth forests on state land. He believes that the state can acquire other forestlands to make up for the set-asides and that his plan can be carried out in a way that doesn’t upend state revenue or rural economies.
Proponents of protecting the older trees, rather than logging them, make a case that these forests are unique and some of the last of their kind on state land in western Washington.
But the logging and forest products industry staunchly opposes the idea of removing the forestland from the timber sale rotation and says it would deal a blow to lumber mills, jobs, and schools and that it moves the goalposts on past conservation plans.
Herrera Beutler has vowed not to buckle to political pressure from environmentalists and other interest groups. In her view, foresters and others who plan state timber sales have become too hemmed in by these kinds of forces, jeopardizing revenue along with forest health.
She spoke out forcefully against Upthegrove’s proposal to set aside the older trees, arguing it would raise fire risks and hurt cash flow to schools and other trust land beneficiaries. At the same time, she’s stressed she does not want to log old-growth forests that are now off-limits.
Both candidates agreed, in general, that the state could cut wildfire risks by taking additional steps to improve forest health — particularly in western Washington. This might include steps like thinning forests.
Outgoing Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz put a heavy emphasis on wildfire prevention and management. She worked with the Legislature on a 2021 law that commits $500 million over eight years to deal with fires.
Over the past decade, an average of 470,000 acres have burned annually in Washington, although the figure has been below that mark during the past few years.
There are emerging concerns that lawmakers may look to pull back wildfire-related funding as the state faces a tightening budget heading into the next legislative session. That’s among the issues that could confront the next lands commissioner when they take office in January.
