Green Sanctuary OUUF Action Plan#5: Washington Forest Conservation Efforts promotes ELF (Elwha Legacy Forests)

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Hi Forest Friends!

This month, check out the updates to our ongoing campaigns and the chance to

continue to take action. We also share news about a recent successful fundraiser to raise $32,000 to stop the immediate logging of the Sadie Creek Legacy Forest. Additionally, we have some great volunteer opportunities to help promote our campaigns.

As always, thank you for your continued support of ELF!

Save Sadie Creek Fundraiser – We did it!!

A few weeks ago, we launched a GoFundMe campaign to fundraise $32k to stop the immediate clear-cut logging of the Sadie Creek Legacy Forest (“Doc Holliday” Unit 1), which borders the popular Sadie Creek Campground. Within four days of announcing the fundraiser, we hit our goal and signed a contract with the logging company, Webster Logging, at Sadie Creek Campground, with the trees as witnesses. A portion of the money paid will go to DNR and the beneficiaries (schools, fire district, etc.) just the same as if the forest had been logged. With everyone made whole, we are now working out a long-term conservation plan with the DNR.

A huge THANK YOU to all who trusted us on this journey!! The Forest is safe thanks to everyone who donated, shared, or otherwise engaged with the fundraiser, and we will continue our hard work to make sure it stays that way.

Read an article by Aspen Ford in the Washington State Standard about our successful fundraising efforts here !

Elwha Watershed Study Update + Lawsuit

There is an exciting new opportunity to engage with efforts to protect the Elwha Watershed and its legacy forests! Visit our new Elwha Watershed webpage to stay updated about this process to create a conservation area in the Elwha Watershed. There you will also find our new video to help you fill out the survey (due June 15th) and share your responses with us! Thanks to all who are participating and sharing!

Attend the DNR online meetings – June 18, 2026 @ 9:00 – 10:00 am and September 3, 2026 @ 6:00 – 7:30 pm. Registration details will be available soon on DNR’s Elwha Watershed Study page. This is a great opportunity to share how important protecting the Elwha Watershed is to you.

Earth Law Center is back in Clallam County Superior Court over the “Parched” and “Tree Well” timber sales in the Elwha Watershed. For months, DNR has known about rare plant communities in the Parched timber sale area. Under DNR’s Policy for Sustainable Forestry, the sale should be substantially modified or cancelled. DNR still hasn’t done so. ELC is asking the court to invalidate DNR’s permit documents for many reasons, including DNR’s failure to consider the impacts of its logging activities on stream flow. Science shows us that logging older forests and replacing them with monocrop plantations contributes to a significant decline in stream flows. With a changing climate and all of Port Angeles (both individuals and businesses) depending on the Elwha River for our water supply, everyone should care about this issue!

Salt Creek/Striped Peak Legacy Forests Update

We have 1,315 signatories to the sign-on letter and counting! Thanks to all of you who have been making phones, sending emails, and otherwise making your voices heard. Read the letter here.

The legacy forests near Salt Creek lie near Olympic National Park – a UNESCO World Heritage site and international biosphere reserve. They are global ecological treasures that those who live in the Olympic Peninsula are lucky enough to have in
their “backyard.” But DNR has plans to clear-cut large sections of the amazing forests in timber sales named ‘Tiger Stripes Sorts’ and ‘Birds Eye View’.

We’ve sent the sign-on letter with all the new signatures to the Commissioner. Please keep making your voices heard by calling and emailing directly, and share with new people so we can amplify the message!

We continue to work with community members and volunteer experts to gather important data to support the creation of a conservation area adjacent to Salt Creek. We also continue to ask that the forests in DNR’s Striped Peak area be included in Commissioner Upthegrove’s map of the 77,000 acres of legacy forests that he has indicated he is planning to protect. A revised map of these forest lands could be coming out in the next few weeks, so now is a critical time to make sure DNR knows how much you value protecting the Salt Creek/Striped Peak legacy forests.

Take Action:

– Call (360) 902-1004 and email Public Lands Commissioner Upthegrove (cpl@dnr.wa.gov) (Subject line: Don’t Log Salt Creek & Striped Peak Legacy Forests)

Tell him why he should protect legacy forests next to Salt Creek Recreation Area.

– Please copy 24th District legislators mike.chapman@leg.wa.gov, steve.tharinger@leg.wa.gov, and adam.bernbaum@leg.wa.gov

and Clallam County Commissioners mike.french@clallamcountywa.gov, Mark.Ozias@clallamcountywa.gov, and Randy.Johnson@clallamcountywa.gov

Photo by Scott McGee

Hike with Us! Upcoming Community Hike

When – Saturday, June 6th, 10 am

Where – “Doc Holiday”; meet at Sadie Creek Campground.

What – Please join ELF coalition members for a community hike to see “Doc Holliday,” Unit 1, recently saved from logging, and another unit, due to be logged in the next month or so. We’ll meet at Sadie Creek campground and enjoy a short hike along a well-maintained trail through Unit 1. Then, we’ll carpool to a parking area nearby for a light bushwack into another unit–a rare coastal rainforest–to see it before it is too late. Bring a water bottle and hiking poles, if needed.

Contact anniehhartnett@gmail.com for any questions

Salt Creek Weekend Volunteer Tabling

As some of you may have seen, for the past few weeks, Elwha Legacy Forests Coalition members have been volunteering to run a table at the Striped Peak Trailhead in Salt Creek Recreation Area. In three successful weekends of tabling, volunteers engaged with around 100 people, local or from afar, and spread knowledge about the impending clear-cut logging plans near the Salt Creek Recreation Area. Below are some great photos from tabling- thank you Phillip, Steve, Barbara, Walter, Neil, and Annie for your support and time!

Volunteering with ELF!!

We are always looking for volunteers to help us advocate for the protection of legacy forests. Some opportunities are listed below:

1. Help promote the campaign to save Salt Creek/ Striped Peak Legacy Forests.

We are seeking volunteers to help run a table at the Salt Creek Recreation Site on weekends to provide information to hikers about the ‘Tiger Stripes Sorts’ and ‘Birds Eye View’ timber sales and the work of the Elwha Legacy Forests Coalition.

2. Help promote the Elwha Watershed Survey.

We’d also love to have volunteers at the entrances to the weekly Port Angeles farmers market on Saturdays 10-2pm to hand out flyers about the Elwha Watershed Survey.

If you are interested in these volunteer opportunities, please send an email to Lucia.Buscemi3@gmail.com.

We are trying to gauge overall volunteer interest in specific tasks and set up a larger database going forward. If you are interested in volunteering, and could please fill out this form, it would help us a lot!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScgyYQaCnlCWoURW_hdmeA9p5pq_8SLxKzsTzkyrBq72ETG4A/viewform?usp=dialog

Join us! May 19th Monthly Zoom meeting

When – Tuesday, May 19th, 5pm – 6pm
Where – This will be a Zoom meeting
Why – This is a great chance to connect with your fellow Elwha Legacy Forest Coalition members, have meaningful conversations, get updated on recent developments, network, and learn how you can volunteer.

ELF Monthly Meeting on Zoom
Zoom link: https://us05web.zoom.us/j/88656546387