Raise the green fist!

Back in an earlier life, I remember attending a townhall meeting with a representative of Willamette Industries (I believe he was actually the CEO) when one of the fellow EarthFirsters stood up to declare that if he intends to pursue logging in the Opal Creek watershed there'd be so many protesters out there that the police could never catch up arresting them all. Imagine something like this happening now, about 15 years later: an executive officer of a major timber company talking with the public, environmental activists, and regular people willing to commit time and effort to save a swath of ancient forest. Back then, a handful of subsistence miners, a whole bunch of environmentalists, and a few backcountry folks who didn't want to see their water supply get muddied got together and saved a significant swath of wilderness, one that connects the Bull of the Woods Wilderness with the high Cascades area.

There still is such a sentiment out there. Although now things are a bit different. In the wake of the devastating Biscuit fire and the so called "healthy" forests initiative, salvage is the name of the industry's game. A legitimate-sounding word for harvest: charred but otherwise sound trees that provide habitat for surviving species and future stands in one of the most ecologically diverse areas of the Northwest rainforest will be taken out for profit. Now, in the name of "healthy forests" there will be no questions asked, no public forums, just go out there and take what you can. Now, environmental groups are either called "terrorist" organizations for their dissent, or they are sidelined as "dead." Now, a 75 year old woman sits on a green FS bridge, waiting to get arrested for what she still believes is right.


Thank you Joan.