Elwha Legacy Forests Coalition (ELF) is a local and volunteer grassroots coalition of people and non-profit organizations, inspired by protecting the Elwha Watershed and legacy forests on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State.

In May 2026, ELF saved the Sadie Creek legacy forests from immediate clearcut following a unique agreement with the logging company and a successful GoFundMe campaign raising $32k in 4 days.

Working with the same logging company, we now have the incredible opportunity to stop the clearcut of more rare coastal Legacy Forests on the Olympic Peninsula as part of the same timber sale! Thanks to the overwhelming public support, we are over halfway to saving ALL the remaining Twin Rivers Legacy Forests. On Aug. 14 we signed an agreement to halt the clearcutting of 13 acres of rare temperate coastal rainforest (all that was left standing of Unit 5 of the "Doc Holliday" timber sale)!!

Now we have until SEPTEMBER 15 to raise an additional $280K to save the remaining 14 acres of forests at imminent risk as part of this same "Doc Holliday" timber sale. The good news is we don’t have to reach the total amount to save forests. Our agreement with the logging company continues: every $20,000 raised saves 1 acre of legacy forest.

If you wish to make a tax-deductible donation of over $1,000, please email protectors(@)elwhalegacyforests.org.

See our story on KING 5 Seattle news!

Meet the Forest

This temperate rainforest is a complex habitat full of life. It’s a quiet, fern-filled, moss-strewn, biodiverse, complex legacy forest. It contains culturally important Western Red Cedar groves and some of the very last remaining mature Sitka Spruce forests in the entire Olympic Peninsula, with some trees measuring over 5 feet in diameter.

It’s crisscrossed by creeks and wetlands and is home to an entire ecosystem, with a wide variety of wildlife, big and small. A joy for hikers to explore, and where, from time immemorial, Tribal citizens have gone to gather traditional foods and medicines.

Where will the money from the GoFundMe go, and what will it do?

These forests are part of an active timber sale called “Doc Holliday.” The owner of the logging company, who, under the contract with the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR), has the right to cut down the trees, has agreed not to log as long as he can be made whole under the contract.

The money will go to the logging company to prevent the imminent clear-cutting of this forest and also to meet the needs of the county and junior taxing districts, including schools, libraries, and local services that receive money from timber sales. Each $20K raised will protect 1 acre of biodiverse forest habitat from imminent logging. If we do not receive at least $20,000, the price of at least one acre, we will return the donations to the donors.

Saving critical habitat this way is a first-of-its-kind endeavor. It’s a cooperative agreement with a timber company that sees why we don’t want this forest cut down and is willing to work with us. It lets the DNR know that people value these rare forest ecosystems and are willing to give money so they can be left standing--for ourselves and for our future generations.

What’s next?

We will continue to work to get the DNR to protect these forests into the future so they aren’t sold for logging any time soon, or ever. DNR is actively working on creating a way to take forests out of the timber harvest rotation once the timber value has been paid for with private dollars. This makes sense because you can’t log the same forest twice.

It’s a win-win for everyone. The forest stays standing, and the money comes from donations rather than the sale of the timber.

We had to act before the DNR had figured out all the details of how to document this kind of deal. We’re changing the system, which is exciting, but comes with some risk. We can’t yet guarantee how long these forests will be saved, but we can guarantee that they will be off the immediate chopping block and that we will do everything we can to protect them into the future. The moment to act is now!

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