King County offers a Forestry Program to encourage forest management practices that maintain the productivity and resilience of forest ecosystems. Staff foresters accomplish this by visiting private forestry sites and providing technical advice to landowners, assisting them with preparing forest stewardship plans, and offering forest stewardship classes through Washington State University Extension.
Staff foresters provide free assistance to forestland property owners and other interested individuals. Foresters are available to help with planning to meet individual forestry goals including: growing a healthy forest, timber enhancement, improvement of wildlife habitat, and protection of water resources.
The first step in achieving a healthy and productive forest involves developing a forest stewardship plan. Landowners may complete plans on their own, hire a consultant to assist with planning, or participate in low cost forest stewardship classes. Contact one of our staff foresters to help determine which approach is best for you.
Through the preparation of these plans landowners are encouraged to become active managers of their forests. Active management greatly increases the likelihood that privately-owned forests will remain productive and healthy, and that the social, economic and environmental benefits of these lands will be realized.
Once a plan is completed, staff foresters can help landowners organize specific forestry activities such as tree and shrub planting, forest tree pruning, pre-commercial thinning, commercial thinning, timber harvesting, timber and non-timber forest products marketing, recreational trail layout, wildlife habitat enhancement, forest aesthetics improvement, and soil and water protection measures.
The Forestry Program offers forest stewardship classes in cooperation with Washington State University Extension. The class includes classroom instruction by a variety of natural resource specialists and on-site technical assistance to coach you in developing your forest stewardship plan. In addition, workshops on forest topics are offered several times each year.
For more information, refer to our collection of local forestry links page or visit WSU Extension’s forestry education page (external link).
These services are provided by the King County Forestry Program.