Forest Regulation
COVID-19 UPDATE
During this extraordinary time in our lives, we want you to know that we are open for business. However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Natural Resources’ Forest Regulation staff are asking for your help and cooperation. DNR’s objectives during this period are the following:
- Keeping our staff safe through social distancing, washing hands, and other practices to help minimize transmission of the novel coronavirus;
- Making sure DNR staff does not cause further transmission of the virus to the public or our TFW partners;
- Maintaining continuity of operations to the extent possible; and,
- Communicating effectively with all our TFW partners.
For further details about how we are looking to meet these objectives, please read this April 2020 memo from the Forest Regulation Division.
View a list of additional operational changes related to COVID-19.
DNR’s Forest Regulation program administers the rules that protect public safety, water quality, and fish and wildlife habitat on the 12 million acres of Washington’s state-owned and private forestlands.
The rules, developed by the Forest Practices Board, protect public safety and public resources – including standards for logging, road construction, pesticide application, and other forestry-related activities – while maintaining a viable forest products industry in Washington.
The program also assists Washington’s family forest owners through its Small Forest Landowner Office. The office provides technical and financial assistance to help owners to manage their unique lands meet their goals while keeping the forestlands on the landscape – be it through protecting or restoring fish and wildlife habitat, reducing fuels for wildfires, improving forest health, generating money, or all of the above.
Here’s where to find help if you’re interested in harvesting timber, building or repairing forest roads or culverts, thinning your forest, or other forest practices.
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Apply for or look up a forest practices permit.
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Find minutes, agendas, or other information about the Forest Practices Board, the official body that sets regulations for forestry in the state of Washington.
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Find forest practices forms, fees and technical requirements to follow when working in the woods.
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Find information on protecting cultural resources when working in the woods.
