The Confusing If Not Amusing Rebirth Of

Environmental Protests In Oregon

A series of recent arrests in the timber lands of Oregon brought to mind an assumed extinct creature.  As if a creature lost in time, environmental  protests have been attempting to make themselves heard.  Several arrests across Oregon culminating in the near disasterous human caused fire at a protest training seminar for children in Curry County.  A protest training seminar sponsored by organizations with ties to Eco Terrorism Groups.  This Journalist can assure you that your voice has been heard.  Concerned citizens alerted me to eco activism training camps offered around the country.  Several groups are attempting to actively recruit tree sitters.  Offering eco activism classes on public land as naturally as if it were a plant identification class.  People as far away as Poland reached out to talk about their experiences with protest groups.

Oregon has a long history of timber harvesting. The industry has come a long way from the days of indiscriminate clear cutting. Public land use laws and new equipment have made harvesting timber far cleaner than it’s origins. Vegetable oil is being slowly adopted in hydraulic equipment which nearly eliminates inorganic lubricants in the field.  A lesson born out of the mining industry to protect waterways.  There are even biodegradable chainsaw bar fluids in the final stages of material safety testing.

Oregon made national headlines for environmental  protests.  Millions of dollars worth of construction and logging equipment was set on fire or cut apart with saws.  Many times, hydraulic lines were loosened resulting in worker injury.  Roads were dug out cutting off residents from vital services.  Residents of logging communities were subjected to jeers and projoratives too offensive to repeat.  Protesters painted people’s doors with red paint as if to suggest it was blood.  Some weren’t as lucky.  Their families were terrorized by rocks thrown through windows in the middle of the night by masked figures.  Law enforcement officials of the time didn’t have modern suspect tracking capabilities.

It wasn’t until protests and vandalism spread to Forest Service managed lands that Federal Investigators got involved.  Thousands of protesters from Eugene and Seattle were arrested.  By then, timber contracts had expired and those that hadn’t were mired in the appellate process.  By the time courts were able to weed through mountains of pseudoscience to verifiable data, the economy had collapsed.

Working communities at the heart of logging like Klamath Falls, Oakridge, Noti, and Powers were hit hardest.  Working class communities before the days of retraining grants, or economic development were left to slowly wither.  These communities barely survived, but are a mere shadow of their former prosperity.  Property values plummeted and foreclosures forced families to seek employment in urban centers with an already fragile economy.  The increase in economically displaced workers created a condition that allowed wages to stagnate.  There’s no need to offer raises if there are 100 lined up to take the job.  This wage stagnation combined with exponentially increasing financial failures saw entire towns fail.

Oregon’s recreation and resort communities faced nothing short of devastation with the state’s major source of income held up in seemingly endless litigation.  Central & Eastern Oregon were on the verge of a revival thanks to state funding when logging came to an abrupt halt.  Campgrounds once cherished by generations of families had to be closed.  Many of those special places never reopened.  Boarded businesses haunt Highway 101 to this day as a terrifying reminder of what nearly could have destroyed the entire state’s economy.

Eventually the rising cost of timber and a rapidly growing economy convinced the state legislature to allow logging again.  Those who didn’t come around found themselves out of office.  A child’s empty belly speaks louder than 1/100000 of the population with an erroneously informed “Feeling”.  Oregon quickly made up lost innovative ground.  Refining the milling process allowed more solid wood to be recovered from a single log.  Oregon timber processers even discovered new and inventive ways to use every part of the tree.

Architectural mainstays in building, the Laminated Beam was nothing short of revolutionary.  To this day Oregon is the most proficient and profitable producer of laminated beam technology.

https://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2017/04/oregon_makes_push_for_wood_sky.html

In response to listings of salmon species under the federal Endangered Species Act, Oregon lawmakers joined with landowners in 1997 to create the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds. The Oregon Plan seeks to restore salmon runs, improve water quality and achieve healthy watersheds statewide through the joint efforts of government, landowners and citizen volunteers. The plan is unique among state protection plans for its emphasis on landowners voluntarily exceeding regulations, and for its engagement of communities to restore their watersheds. Combined efforts have restored more than 7,900 miles of stream banks and opened an additional 5,100 miles of streams to fish through stream-crossing improvements.

The relationship between timber companies and mills has changed greatly since the 1920’s.  Timber companies mainly cut trees for land owners these days.  A few own their own parcels, but mainly it’s public land cutting.  The big timber companies transitioned to finish milling and wholesale distribution.

The old robber barons are long dead and their heirs are more interested in buying a new yacht than wading back into timber.  The largest forest owner in Oregon is the American people managed by USFS.  However, the Forest Service only cuts 9% of what they plant.  Partially to restore land that was never replanted.  The remainder of the sustainable balance is a matter of speculation ranging from spite to outright hostility for it’s being withheld.

There are still a few growing pains as sustainable forestry is perfected.  Oregon is currently planting more timber than it harvests in an attempt to plan for future demand while firmly set on a path toward continued sustainability.  State foresters are paying particular attention to areas that land owners have chosen to experiment with tree farming.  These landowners aren’t counted in timber statistics because their parcels were planted with trees to receive a tax benefit or carbon credits.  This edges up the total area of the state planted with trees to 48 percent.  Oregon would always like to plant more but other habitat concerns must be managed too.

Oregon forest landowners meet some of the strictest environmental standards in the world through compliance with the Oregon Forest Practices Act. Yet they may choose to meet additional standards to gain recognition from independent, third-party forest sustainability certification systems. America’s three largest certification systems are the American Tree Farm System (ATFS), Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). Forest certification gives wood product consumers, architects, engineers and builders an added level of assurance that the products were produced using responsible and sustainable forestry practices.

Then seemingly as if enchanted by romantic stories embellished over time about the “valiant struggle” a new generation has come forth.  This generation environmental protester however was raised on a steady diet of pop culture where accuracy isn’t as important as emotion.  Partial headlines repeated by celebrities are passed as if tablets from the mount.  Today’s environmental protester is raised in an urban environment with little formal ecology training.  They pose in climbing gear and tree climbing spikes in front of a clearly marked No-Cut tree.

With megaphone in hand and a sign nailed to cover the tag, they proclaim themselves defenders of the forest.  These “brave and noble warriors” wrap themselves in chain and lash themselves to trees.  They all take turns moving around the tree to pose for their camera toting friends as if some bizarre post modern maypole of misunderstanding.  By the time a ranger can get up there, the chain has worn a huge gash in the bark.  The tree isn’t the only damage done.  The soft forest understory is trampled until muddy.  Surrounding saplings are snapped because they interfere with the photo composition.

Of course a environmental protest needs attention, so they attempt to make it a “festival of protection”.   The very tree these protesters risk their freedom to chain themselves to ends up cut anyway.  This time not because of an alleged heartless decision, but because stupid humans did the arborist version of hugging their kitties too tight.  All for a photo opportunity to brag to their friends that they too “Suffered for the cause”.

The megaphones heard for miles to match miles of candy wrappers and fast food cartons from chains hundreds of miles away.  Rebels without a clue stumble into the forest and proclaim the first tree not too far from a road of goodly size an old growth tree.  In fact nearly every tree a environmental protester chains themselves to today was the size of a Christmas tree when their parents were born.  Coastal community residents have taken up the duty of hiking the roads and picking up miles of trash so that bears don’t move in to disrupt a fragile but growing  tourism economy.  They should be chasing agates in the tide during their golden years, but such is their life.

A few more determined folks have blocked roads with junked or stolen cars.  The unintended victim is the town where the car is dumped.  An abandoned car must be stored for 30 days while the owner is researched.  This is a hard cost of $1000.00.  The vehicle must then be disposed of at a cost of another $1000 because again, logging protests brought about responsible environmental laws.  The town must take funds from their budgets which are funded by a largely senior citizen population along the Oregon Coast.  As a result, senior citizens and hourly wage workers on already tight budgets face rising taxes to police forests for vandals.

The response to these claims when lodged is akin to Dickens.  The defenders of these protesters and advocates for the destruction of Oregon’s economy suggest seniors & hourly workers should just move.  A response so callous one can hardly believe it was uttered, let alone promoted as a solution to allow such conduct.

Anti-Logging Activists Cause Catastrophic Forest Fires . . .

It is a wonder to this journalist how such environmental protests can exist in the presence of science pioneered by forestry protesters.  It’s because of timber protests that we know the Coast Range is a monster tree growing zone.  Trees in the coast range fed by a stream of mineral rich coastal fog and rains reach merchantable age much faster than anywhere else in the country.  The trees put on much more length meaning less trees have to be cut to make the timber order.  Think of it like a baker sending you super long baguettes for your sandwich shop at the same price as the regular rolls.  That’s an incredibly simplified explanation, but in principle it’s accurate.

Wood is sold by board feet.  If you can get 3 times the board feet from a single tree, you can cut less trees everywhere else to balance demand.  This is how foresters can work from one end of a forest to another and be ready to start over by the time they get there.

For those of you with an understanding of Oregon’s other green crop, it’s like staggering your plants in the flower room to pull out a few plants every day.

In fact nearly every environmental step forward in forestry has been in the name of good stewardship. Environmental protests encouraged innovation because advocates made rational arguments based on hard data and longevity studies.  Level heads prevailed and helped timber land owners develop environmentally sound plans to harvest and replant.

Even Portland Oregon can trace the roots of their now world famous food scene to an abundance of fresh, exotic, wild mushrooms, truffles, and forest berries such as the marionberry found in sustainable forests.

Some of the leading names in sustainability and ecology have hailed Oregon as a shining example of sound forestry practices.

The World Commission on Environment and Development defines sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

“…I don’t reforest just because Oregon law says we have too, I have a vision of management to pass it on to the next generation in a better condition than I received it…I’m not looking for short-term returns, forestry involves a whole host of riches including products, fish, water, and wildlife.”
Wayne Krieger, Gold Beach, OR- 1993 National Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year

“…along with wood production, wildlife habitat is a driving force behind management which promotes recreation for the family to enjoy…forestry is a long-term investment with returns down the road…It’s important to pass on to the next generation. We view reforestation as a way to help the forest along, to promote species we want back, to select what grows well on different sites.”
Don Solin, Deerbrook, WI- Tree Farmer

https://extension.psu.edu/sustainable-forestry

Oregon has such a renowned reputation for sustainable forestry that an entire PhD program has been devoted.  Let that sink in for a moment.  Oregon has an entire course of study that attracts students from around the world because of the state’s outstanding forestry practices.  Nations across the globe look to Oregon’s Forestry Laws when crafting their own sustainability laws.

http://gradschool.oregonstate.edu/programs/1090/sustainable-forest-management-phd-mf-ms-minor

One would suggest perhaps instead of forcing the elderly to underwrite acts of vandalism cleanup, energies could be better spent advocating for tree planting initiatives in the anti desertification zones of Africa and South America.

You’re Back?

Why?

Your entire reason for existence passed into history with the practices you protested.

At best, it’s a sad silent rage against the dying of the light.

The rest of the state has figured out where their bootstraps are and are working to build a profitable community where people want to settle and raise a family.  The children of coastal families have grown and are choosing to roll up their sleeves and revive the businesses and entertainment venues of their communities.  They built on a shore of dreams that is beginning to see a strong recovery.  The kind of recovery that means hospitality and career jobs that are full year positions.  All of this recovery however depends on a steady revenue source to fund infrastructure development.

You have an easy decision.  You can choose to glorify and praise people who litter the forest with trash in the name of protest.  You can defend cleaning costs being pushed off on towns because nobody is responsible for themselves in the name of a cause.  You can even suggest people move if they don’t like it.

Or

You can light up your state legislature switchboard with calls and emails.  You can make sure they know your future and your children’s futures are more important than pacifying a environmental protest group.  Report every last blocked road, dug out trail, and illegal encampment to your Sheriff’s Office.  Make sure you take photos and share every example of how Your life in Your community was inconvenienced by environmental protest vandalism.

Oregon Forest Laws | Oregon Forest Resources Institute

oregonforestlaws.org

Oregon’s Forest Protection Laws : An Illustrated Manual

https://oregonforests.org/pub/oregons-forest-protection-laws-illustrated-manual

REGENERATION AND GROWTH OF COASTAL DOUGLAS-FIR

https://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/pnw_gtr024/pnw_gtr024c.pdf

Biogeoclimatic Zones of British Columbia – Coastal Douglas-Fir

https://www.sfu.ca/geog/geog351fall07/Group06/Coastal Douglas-Fir.html