Washington State Department of Natural Resources

This year’s fire season has been the mildest year for Washington in a decade. But, the season isn’t over yet.

A study published by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources says a tsunami triggered by a major earthquake beneath Puget Sound would arrive at Seattle shores sooner and reach farther inland than previously thought.

For the first time Washington state will lease public timber lands as carbon sinks – preserving older forests to absorb greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change. It will use carbon markets to generate income from stands of timber by not cutting them down. The Department of Natural Resources will sell leases on 10,000 acres of its most ecologically-valuable forests in Western Washington.