Major Forest Restoration Project Underway in Washinton

The Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is partnering with the U.S. Forest Service to reduce wildfire hazards on 350,000 acres of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.

The collaboration, dubbed the Central Washington Initiative, also includes landscape restoration and is being implemented as part of a ten-year federal plan called the Wildfire Crisis Strategy.

The state initiative includes lands managed by both the DNR and the forest service stretching from the Methow Valley to the Naches Valley.

The initiative calls for both agencies to service roughly 35,000 acres per year over the next decade..

“The Central Washington Initiative adds to the already impressive list of transformative actions we and our partners have taken to address the wildfire and forest health crisis in the Evergreen State,” said Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz. “We have already made great progress working across all land types to reduce wildfire risk and restore forest health on hundreds of thousands of acres."