Jim Furnish
Forest Supervisor
Siuslaw National Forest
I received a provocative and compelling book the other day, compliments of
Chuck Willer of the Coast Range Association. Perhaps you've seen or heard of
it--"CLEARCUT: The Tragedy of Industrial Forestry"--published by Sierra Club.
If you prefer looking backward instead of forward, the impact of the images and
ideas in this book can only be described as deeply disturbing--as I'm sure the
authors intended. The images have an emotional power, and the ideas an
intellectual power, that speak to a wrongheaded legacy wrought on the land.
I have taken an excerpt from that book written by Chris Maser, a Corvallis author and consultant on sustainable forestry:
Where I grew up "Uncle" was a term to indicate submission. The glimpse we've all had of the President's Forest Plan for the Northwest I think provides ample evidence that management of federal lands is forever altered. The legal system has been used very effectively to bend our arm just about to the breaking point. It's my hope that the Forest Plan serves as an overt admission that old methods were not sustainable, that we can just say "Uncle", pick ourselves up off the ground and get busy finding out if new ideas achieve what we're after.
Second, "Thank you", because if it were not for the dogged, unstinting efforts of the conservation community these past many years (far TOO many, I might add), we would not be at this threshold today. My deepest regret is that so much trust has been eroded in the struggle that it will be difficult to develop constructive and healthy working relationships for the future. Difficulty alone should not dissuade us from the task, however, because I believe healthy working relationships are imperative for future success.
Third, "Please". I say please because it's hard to turn a big ship on a dime. I don't want this to sound like whining, but I'm asking for a little indulgence in turning the Siuslaw National Forest in a new direction. Humility is in, smugness is out, and we'll be needing help and support from many sources--research, local government, conservation groups and industry alike. After all, this is ultimately about managing spectacular and at-risk resources more than it is about the Forest Service. As long as we keep our eyes on the land, hopefully old fences will come down.
In summary, I would generalize by saying that the Forest Service has been accused of practicing industrial forestry on public lands, and found guilty, although we did it as well or better than anyone. But there is no right way to do the wrong thing. Now we need to develop a new art, that of ecosystem management.
I see federal lands in the Coast Range emerging with a short term objective of refugia or reserves. Issues related to recovery of threatened and endangered species-- owls, murrelets, and soon salmonids--are so pervasive and overwhelming as to dominate our management just as timber production did only a few years ago. I will not presume to guess what lies beyond the next few years, but it is my hope that federal lands can effectively fill a niche of providing significant large areas of late successional forest in the Coast Range. And that our management of these areas will make a telling difference in the recovery of those species dependent on such habitats. This is a responsibility I take seriously. For I fear that the appearance, structure, and function of federal and private forests are on a sharply divergent track. I believe that federal lands must shoulder the load if there is to be any meaningful future evidence in the Coast Range of the incredible magnificence of the coastal temperate rainforest.