Hood Canal Forests

Our Hood Canal forests connect and support us

Forests, like shellfish and salmon, define the character of the Hood Canal region. Forests line the shoulders of the Olympic Mountains, our shorelines, and the lowlands we call home.

There are over 660,000 acres of forest in the Hood Canal area:

  • Evergreen forests dominate the majority of the Hood Canal area from the coasts to the mountains.
  • Deciduous and mixed canopy forests are primarily associated with coastal and lowland areas, and with river valleys.

Our forests will support us for generations; they perform important environmental functions and enhance our quality of life in many ways:

  • Help ensure that we have clean and abundant water, while decreasing flood risks
  • Provide food, cover, and breeding areas for many plants and animals
  • Contribute organic material to streams, which improves habitat and provides food resources for fish
  • Provide jobs and recreational opportunities (e.g., timber, tourism, hiking)
  • Keep us connected with our cultural heritage
  • Enhance aesthetics and views

Our goal is to restore and maintain healthy functioning forests for the protection of aquatic and terrestrial resources across the Hood Canal region

Integrated Watershed Planning

Indicators

Extent of Forest Cover

TARGET: No net loss of total forest cover

STATUS: Decreasing

Combined forest cover has declined from 1992 to 2016. Concerning changes are also occurring within landscape types, showing losses in evergreen forests, grasslands, and agricultural lands, with increases in deciduous forests and developed areas, indicating the conversion of natural areas.

Forest cover changes keep a pulse on ecosystem health

Over time, the amount of forest cover has changed in the Hood Canal watershed.  In recent years forest cover has decreased, with the greatest loss to evergreen forests.

Increased harvest of evergreen trees on commercially managed lands and development related tree removal activities have had the greatest impact on forest cover.

In the mountainous areas of Hood Canal and on federal- and state-owned lands, forest cover has remained relatively stable.

Ecosystem Connections

Find out how to help

Hood Canal Forest Cover Pie Chart 2016 Ccap

Hood Canal Forest Cover

Competing ecosystem and socio-economic interests present challenges to accomplishing Integrated Watershed Plan (IWP) goals for Hood Canal forests.

The Hood Canal Coordinating Council has drafted a list of pressures that impact Hood Canal forests, including primary challenges to:

  • Balance forest harvest, conservation of wild forests, and residential development
  • Maintain transportation infrastructure while minimizing forest fragmentation

Forest conversion has been concentrated in the coastal and lowland areas of Hood Canal. Between 1995 and 2006, approximately 24,500 acres were converted from forest to some other land use. The forest resources in different areas, and for varying uses, are subject to different pressures.

  • Residential areas face pressures related to forest fragmentation and conversion
  • Conservation and recreational lands are threatened by land use changes
  • Timber lands are subject to rotational harvest and residential conversion

In addition, environmental conditions can impede efforts to restore and maintain forests requiring adaptive management actions that allow:

  • Flexible response to climate change impacts such as severe weather events, altered temperature, and precipitation patterns
  • Effective management of pests, fires, and other natural events

Forests are managed as protected public lands, working lands, and residential lands–forming a mosaic that supports our way of life.

A large portion of Hood Canal’s forests are managed as working lands, for timber production within national forest or on state or privately owned lands.  The remaining forested areas are split between areas intended to accommodate residential development, and those that are managed primarily for conservation or recreational use.

Understanding how these different management regimes affect forest resources will help us in crafting the right strategies to meet Integrated Watershed Plan (IWP) goals.

Hood Canal Forest Management

Achieving healthy, properly functioning forests around Hood Canal means maintaining the amount of forest cover; improving the quality of our forests (more diversity in species and age class); and creating greater connectivity between forests and aquatic habitats. This will require implementing management strategies that:

  • Increase wild and diverse forests (e.g., through reforestation)
  • Maintain the area and productivity of managed, working timberlands in lieu of converting them to residential lands
  • Maintain forest cover in residential lands (reducing fragmentation of existing stands)

There are a number of large-scale and community-based efforts designed to address the key challenges to achieve our Integrated Watershed Plan (IWP) Forest goals, including to:

  • Review Habitat Conservation Plans that are used to manage and protect habitat, including marine waters, rivers, lakes, and associated forests, and the species that use them
  • Review local land use ordinances and comprehensive plans
  • Identify gaps in protection of forests and develop a plan to fill those gaps
  • Align the aquatic protections identified within each Habitat Conservation Plan with local ordinances
  • Obtain development rights in areas at threat of conversion
  • Acquire lands that are better suited to conservation than timber or residential development
  • Steward timber reproduction lands that are typically planted as monocultures to become more diverse with respect to species and age
  • Support and encourage community forestry

Learn about what each of us can do to help Hood Canal forests.

Hood Canal Forest Cover Pie Chart 2016 Ccap

Hood Canal Forest Cover

Competing ecosystem and socio-economic interests present challenges to accomplishing Integrated Watershed Plan (IWP) goals for Hood Canal forests.

The Hood Canal Coordinating Council has drafted a list of pressures that impact Hood Canal forests, including primary challenges to:

  • Balance forest harvest, conservation of wild forests, and residential development
  • Maintain transportation infrastructure while minimizing forest fragmentation

Forest conversion has been concentrated in the coastal and lowland areas of Hood Canal. Between 1995 and 2006, approximately 24,500 acres were converted from forest to some other land use. The forest resources in different areas, and for varying uses, are subject to different pressures.

  • Residential areas face pressures related to forest fragmentation and conversion
  • Conservation and recreational lands are threatened by land use changes
  • Timber lands are subject to rotational harvest and residential conversion

In addition, environmental conditions can impede efforts to restore and maintain forests requiring adaptive management actions that allow:

  • Flexible response to climate change impacts such as severe weather events, altered temperature, and precipitation patterns
  • Effective management of pests, fires, and other natural events

Forests are managed as protected public lands, working lands, and residential lands–forming a mosaic that supports our way of life.

A large portion of Hood Canal’s forests are managed as working lands, for timber production within national forest or on state or privately owned lands.  The remaining forested areas are split between areas intended to accommodate residential development, and those that are managed primarily for conservation or recreational use.

Understanding how these different management regimes affect forest resources will help us in crafting the right strategies to meet Integrated Watershed Plan (IWP) goals.

Hood Canal Forest Management

Achieving healthy, properly functioning forests around Hood Canal means maintaining the amount of forest cover; improving the quality of our forests (more diversity in species and age class); and creating greater connectivity between forests and aquatic habitats. This will require implementing management strategies that:

  • Increase wild and diverse forests (e.g., through reforestation)
  • Maintain the area and productivity of managed, working timberlands in lieu of converting them to residential lands
  • Maintain forest cover in residential lands (reducing fragmentation of existing stands)

There are a number of large-scale and community-based efforts designed to address the key challenges to achieve our Integrated Watershed Plan (IWP) Forest goals, including to:

  • Review Habitat Conservation Plans that are used to manage and protect habitat, including marine waters, rivers, lakes, and associated forests, and the species that use them
  • Review local land use ordinances and comprehensive plans
  • Identify gaps in protection of forests and develop a plan to fill those gaps
  • Align the aquatic protections identified within each Habitat Conservation Plan with local ordinances
  • Obtain development rights in areas at threat of conversion
  • Acquire lands that are better suited to conservation than timber or residential development
  • Steward timber reproduction lands that are typically planted as monocultures to become more diverse with respect to species and age
  • Support and encourage community forestry

Learn about what each of us can do to help Hood Canal forests.