What is a forest health project?

In this Forest Health Tracker system, projects are defined as a particular proposal, plan, treatment, or interaction specifically aimed to improve forest health and resiliency in our state. Projects are submitted by individuals and organizations responsible for their implementation, and interpretation of projects that meet this definition is the responsibility of the individual or organization submitting information. Some projects are simple one-time events or single treatments, such as a stand-alone prescribed burn.  In other cases, there are projects that present plans to include multiple treatments and activities within them that are completed in a strategically phased approach within a specific geography. An example of the latter includes a US Forest Service Record of Decision for a project that includes a plan and authorizes a series of commercial and non-commercial thinning treatments across national forest land in a particular watershed to be followed with some acres also having a prescribed burn treatment.  Refer to the website glossary for more terms used on this site.

Who determines the forest health projects shown on this website?

Willing individuals and organizations that manage or own forest land in Washington self-report and submit data to about their proposed, planned, and completed projects that have forest health and resilience as a core objective.  They may submit their data directly into the Forest Health Tracker system, or they may submit it to Washington Department of Natural Resources to upload into the system on their behalf.

How does Forest Health Tracker deal with project information with privacy concerns?

Some forest health projects tracked by the Washington Department of Natural Resources are not available for display on Forest Health Tracker due to privacy restrictions and/or concerns associated with the data.  Additionally, some forest health projects available for display in Forest Health Tracker have specific content and data fields restricted from public view.  To address this, Forest Health Tracker's website structure supports a public view as well as privacy settings for particular information that can only be viewed by specific users with accounts in the system.  An example of a common privacy setting is the restriction from public view of individual private land owner names associated with forest health treatments on private lands.

Why does project detail information vary so widely?

Forest Health Tracker allows for the storage and display of a wealth of information on each individual forest health project.  The system only requires a limited basic set of project information, while allowing users the option to enter additional detail if they choose.  Required information includes the following project information:  name, location, type, stage, date, and lead implementing organization.  Individuals and organizations can choose to also enter a project description, project themes, funding information, contacts, contribution organizations, photos, documents, external links, and notes.

What are priority landscapes?

Forest Health Tracker automatically assigns all projects to a priority landscape.  The Washington Department of Natural Resources worked with partners in developing our 2020 Forest Action Plan to identify priority landscapes where we will focus investments to increase forest health and resiliency.  In these landscapes we will bring the resources of our programs, while exercising our Shared Stewardship Investment Strategy with partners to "do the right work in the right places at the right scale".   Learn more about these priority landscapes here.

How do I add a forest health project to this website?

The first step is to sign up for a Forest Health Tracker user account, so that you can enter projects and edit information on those projects over time.  Then once you are logged in with an approved account in the system, you can upload one or more projects individually through a link on the website that walks you through the steps and information needed to create a new project record.  If you have too many projects to individually upload, DNR staff can work with you to discuss building a bulk upload option for geodatabases and tabular data.  If you have questions at any time, reach out Jen Watkins at jennifer.watkins@dnr.wa.gov