The Washington State Department of Natural Resources recently began a multi-faceted forest restoration project across approximately 150 acres of the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest near Verlot.

 

The Pilchuck Restoration Project is led by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Federal Lands Program under the agency’s Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) agreement with the USDA Forest Service. Established in 2014, the GNA allows DNR to leverage its resources with federal and local partners to perform a variety of restoration activities on federal lands.

 

Operators are following a carefully designed prescription focused on thinning out the small-diameter, younger trees that, due to past management practices, are overcrowding tree stands to the detriment of the larger, older trees.

 

“Our Federal Lands Program runs one of the best Good Neighbor Authority operations in the country,” said Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove. “We have set a clear example over the past decade for how states can work with the federal government to accomplished shared forestry goals based on science and on projects consistent with our priorities and values. The Pilchuck Restoration Project checks each of those boxes.”

 

By returning the landscape to a naturally diverse and dispersed composition, the remaining trees will be able to take full advantage of finite water and soil nutrients. This project will also result in more sunlight reaching the forest floor, leading to healthier habitats for plants and animals living at the lower levels of the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest (MBSNF) ecosystem.

 

Additional outcomes of the Pilchuck Restoration Project, which will be active through the fall months and potentially require additional periods of work in 2026, will include improvements to approximately 5 miles of well-traveled forest roads and repair or replacement of faulty culverts causing negative impacts to area aquatic habitats.

 

“The Good Neighbor Authority lets us do more work faster by teaming up with trusted state partners like DNR,” said MBSNF Forest Supervisor Jody Weil. “It’s a force multiplier for restoration, helping us manage more acres with better outcomes.”

 

DNR and the Forest Service spent more than two years collaborating on the prescription for the Pilchuck Restoration Project to maximize the suite of landscape-scale benefits while minimizing the impacts on access to the Heather Lake and Mount Pilchuck trailheads.

 

Because much of the project area is directly adjacent to the road system leading to the two trailheads, visitors may experience travel delays because of operations through October. Road closures are not expected through the summer months but may be needed as conditions warrant.

 

Please visit the MBSNF website for the most current information about road closures.

 

Though the parking area will remain open, the Heather Lake Trail will be closed for maintenance from this Thursday, May 1, until mid-July. That work will be performed by the Forest Service and is not part of the Pilchuck Restoration Project.

 

Please visit the Heather Lake Trail and Mount Pilchuck Trail webpages hosted by the Washington Trails Association and AllTrails for the most current information about trail access.

 

 

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Will Rubin

Communications Manager

Cell: 360-764-0854