Guest Column

Mason County's annual Forest Festival is a celebration of the abundant forests that surround us. This year, as our community gathers for the 80th annual fete, the future of our working forests gives even more cause for celebration.

Washington Gov. Clarence Martin issued a proclamation in 1940 creating the Keep Washington Green Association to promote prevention of human-caused wildfires in Washington. Four years later, Forest Festival was born under the banner of Keep Washington Green. Mason County kids in past generations spent hours creating Keep Washington Green posters for potential prize money.

Mostly, though, kids like me were in it for the fun. Back in the '60s and '70s, I set out from home with a gaggle of friends, walked downtown to watch the Paul Bunyan Parade, rode on carnival rides and sampled fair food, and then met my family at the Logging Show to watch highclimbers topping spar poles, clowns burling logs and a seemingly endless bunch of specialized machines crunching through raw egg-lined pathways Loop Field. I was told this was a test of operator skills and the machines' maneuverability, but mostly they just made scrambled eggs.

Thanks to a few hard-working community members, we can still get a peek at the industry of the past at the annual Forest Festival Logging Show. For a look at the present, and the future, we need to go to the woods.

Some people see the forest industry in exhibits of sepia-toned photos depicting ax-wielding men posing before massive stumps or hulking machinery. The industry of today is perhaps better illustrated by detailed map layers that fit into tiny hand-held computers; databases showing fish abundance or miles of road decommissioned and upgraded; precision-sawing that makes optimal use of wood fiber. Yes, there are still loggers, but they are joined by scientists and engineers and other experts. The industry supports nearly 1,000 jobs in Mason County, generates $56 million in wages and provides $5 million in tax revenue.

The men and women of the forest industry today operate under a complex set of laws and regulations designed to provide wildlife habitat, protect clean water and soils and minimize human impacts on the landscape while still ensuring abundant wood products for today and tomorrow. These heroes are on the front lines of the battle to Keep Washington Green for future generations.

There are many threats to that green future. One, of course, is climate change and the wildfires that accompany a warmer, more volatile climate. Managed forests are a hedge against global warming: Healthy, growing forests absorb carbon dioxide twice as fast per acre as unmanaged forests, and unmanaged forests are twice as susceptible to disease and catastrophic wildfire.

Harvesting and replanting forests provides the best of both worlds, allowing for long-term carbon storage in solid wood products such as lumber and plywood while regrowing new forests that sequester even more carbon to be stored in future generations' wood fiber. Together, forests and wood products in Washington offset 35% of the state's carbon footprint.

In many parts of the state and the world, forests have given way to development. We should count ourselves as incredibly lucky that lush forests still surround us. We can take pride in the fact that here in Mason County, our forests are important to our heritage and our current economy and our future. As we take in the 80th annual Forest Festival, it's worth considering the vital role our working forests play in keeping Washington Green.

■ Patti Case was the public affairs manager of Green Diamond Resource Co. for 30 years and lives in Union.