Earth Day: All About the Pacific Northwest Forests!

I’d like to celebrate Earth Day this year remembering our forests. In the Pacific Northwest, our vast forests have been a part of the ecosystem since the Holocene began. It wasn’t until settlers moved west that the landscape changed, and the ecosystem had to deal with significant human pressure. Below is a great recap of the history of mass logging and it’s inevitable wind down from The Good Rain by Timothy Egan: 

"At the end of the era of unchecked logging, less than 10 percent of these Old Growth forests remained uncut. Perhaps it is important to emphasize here that these forests are not just stands of trees, but large and interdependent communities of wildlife, filtering sponges for clean water, and green lungs that breathe out oxygen. The forest industry had long emphasized that wood was 'America’s Renewable Resource,' but no tree farm had the biodiversity of a mossy old-growth forest, which like an oil reserve or an extinct species was gone forever when it disappeared. 

During the early 1980s, when recession hobbled the Northwest timber industry, some communities witnessed an odd new form of polarization as management and labor joined forces against environmentalists, the more militant of whom opposed all forms of logging. Particularly in old-growth forests, environmental zealots engaged in guerrilla warfare by driving large metal spikes into tree trunks. This form of sabotage had the potential to maim a logger using a chainsaw or shatter a high-speed bandsaw and spray shards of steel across a mill. 

The so-called spotted owl controversy first sent shivers through the region’s timber industry in 1989 when it sparked a series of lawsuits that halted logging of owl habitat in old-growth forests. When the federal Fish and Wildlife Service officially declared the owl a threatened species in June 1990, citing excessive logging as a threat to its survival and thereby triggering legal mechanisms that could drastically curtail logging on federal lands, emotions boiled over. Bumper stickers proclaimed the battle lines: 'I Like Spotted Owls—Fried' versus 'Save an Owl, Educate a Logger.'

In many ways the controversy that swirled about the twenty-five hundred pairs of northern spotted owls merely hastened an inevitable day of reckoning, forcing people to consider the long-term consequences of logging. In the late 1980s, a logger could fall a six-hundred-year-old Douglas fir in fifteen minutes, and enough old-growth trees were removed from the Pacific Northwest each year to fill a convoy of trucks twenty thousand miles long. Many sawmills would have inevitably closed for lack of logs even had there been no owl. The Pacific Northwest timber industry was simply running out of suitable places to cut. With old-growth forests disappearing from private lands and extensive stands of second-growth timber not yet ready to harvest, Pacific Northwest members of Congress pressured the Forest Service to make more timber available during the 1980s, although federal forests could not support the heightened level of cutting without sustaining severe environmental degradation.” 

What a great summary of the forces that were at play. It is telling that the limits of this fabulous resource were finite and, much like the warnings of Dr. Suess’s Lorax, we must care for our natural environment before it is all gone. 

As a developer of wood framed apartment units, I continue to push for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) sourced lumber. There are a few requirements that are hard to comply with that ultimately prohibit it from being used in our bulk framing, but I’m a believer that as the consumer we must keep asking for it. That is one sure way to get suppliers to finally pay attention to the demand. 

In honor of Earth Day, here are some local forest restoration efforts you can support:

• One Tree Planted: This nonprofit focuses on global reforestation, including projects in the PNW. Their efforts aim to restore riparian zones, which are vital for filtering water toxins, providing habitat for young salmon, and preventing riverbank erosion. ​
• National Forest Foundation (NFF): In collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service, NFF undertakes various reforestation projects across National Forests in the PNW. For instance, they have initiatives in Oregon's Willamette National Forest to restore areas affected by wildfires, enhancing watershed health and wildlife habitats.
• Conservation Northwest: This organization has been advocating for sustainable and ecologically sound management of public forests in the PNW for over two decades. Their Forest Field Program focuses on restoring forest ecosystems, promoting habitat connectivity, and ensuring the health of wildlife populations. ​
• Defenders of Wildlife: Engaged in the PNW, this organization works to protect mature and old-growth forests, which are crucial habitats for diverse wildlife. Their initiatives include creating buffer zones around critical habitats and promoting forest management strategies that balance conservation with wildfire risk reduction. ​
• U.S. Forest Service: The U.S. Forest Service implements reforestation strategies to restore forested ecosystems affected by disturbances like wildfires, insect infestations, and diseases. Supporting their initiatives can aid in developing resilient forests that provide clean water, wildlife habitat, and recreational opportunities.

Lastly, for you forest lovers who really want to hug a tree, make sure you pick up a copy of The Hidden Life of Trees this Earth Day and be prepared to be in awe of their consciousness. Preferably an electronic or used copy!