Washington’s Forests and Wildlife Need You to Vote NO on I-2117

"NWF is proud to join our Washington state affiliate, Conservation Northwest, to oppose Washington Initiative-2117. Attacks on state climate laws will make our efforts to address the climate crisis even more difficult. Continue reading to learn more about why NWF, Conservation NW and dozens of other community and conservation groups oppose I-2117. Please consider sharing this blog with your friends and family in Washington state and sign the pledge to vote "No" on I-2117."

- Shannon Heyck-Williams, Associate Vice President of Climate & Energy NWF

This article is re-published with permission from Conservation Northwest and originally appeared on their Wild Northwest Blog on October 15, 2024.

State Initiative 2117, hatched by wealthy hedge fund manager Brian Heywood, would repeal Washington's Climate Commitment Act (CCA) and prevent the state from EVER putting a price on carbon emissions again.

This is bad for everyone because it would make our climate more unstable, our air dirtier, our highways more crowded, and our natural world less resilient. Overturning Washington's flagship climate law would also send shockwaves through every other state trying to fight climate change to maintain a livable planet.

I-2117 is a barrier to climate goals

It is vital to Conservation Northwest's mission that society does everything possible to combat climate change. We cannot connect, protect, and restore our wildlife and wildlands when storms, heat waves, and uncharacteristic catastrophic fires rip apart human infrastructure and natural areas, and disrupt communities requiring billions of dollars to fix the damage.

Not only does the CCA require that the largest polluters in the state reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but it also invests the proceeds of auctioning pollution permits into good things Washingtonians need to transition to a clean energy economy and adapt to the current climate change impacts.

Some of those funds help communities buy solar panels and heat pumps, increase the quality and quantity of green public transportation, help workers transition from the fossil fuel industry, and assist Tribal Nations with projects they require to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and conserve and restore ecosystems. More than $2 billion has already been invested over the program's first two years.

Natural climate solutions and land conservation

Some of the funds from CCA investment accounts specifically target natural climate solutions. Conservation Northwest has already successfully advocated for $95 million during the 2023 and 2024 legislative sessions to protect the carbon sinks and biodiversity of older forests on State lands from being logged, purchase replacement lands for DNR to manage as working forests, and conduct habitat restoration thinning.

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has used $48 million of these funds to purchase more than 9,000 acres of private industrial timber lands from a willing seller in Wahkiakum County.

These are replacement lands for some of the 2,000 acres of older forest conserved from harvest and will be managed as long-term working forests to provide revenue for county trust beneficiaries, helping fund basic services and employing local forestry workers. These forests will also be managed to increase long-term carbon storage over current levels, creating a double climate benefit.

Our partners at The Nature Conservancy and the Quinault Indian Nation also led an effort to secure $25 million so the Quinault Tribe can buy back forestlands from a private timber company and manage them for better climate, fish, and wildlife outcomes.

North Fork Quinault River, Olympic National Park. Credit: Keiko Betcher

These actions are just a drop in the bucket of what needs to happen to utilize our forests for increased CO₂ drawdown and to prevent the loss of wildlife habitat. For example, we have plans for projects to help willing private landowners put conservation easements on their forests in places needed for habitat connectivity in our Cascade to Olympics program area.

We also want to help both DNR and interested private landowners transition to longer cutting cycles on managed lands, which will improve carbon storage while continuing to produce forest products. Natural Climate Solutions dollars can do triple duty by improving forest management for carbon, conserving and enhancing wildlife in vital connectivity corridors, and using easements to keep working forests in timber production permanently.

However, if I-2117 passes, none of these future dreams for a vital landscape for wildlife and people will come true.

As Bill Nye, the Science Guy, says, I-2117 is a bad deal for Washingtonians.

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