I have been a vocal critic of the so called “Fix our Forests Act” or FOFA, that is making its way through Congress. I think it is a cynical, bad faith bill that at best, doesn’t address the wildfire issues it purports to solve, and could actually make those issues much worse.

Combined with the attempt to repeal the ‘roadless rule’, which protects vast swaths of public lands from road construction and extraction, and the Trump administration’s Executive Orders on dramatically increasing timber production on public lands, I fear we are in danger of the kind of rampant ecosystem destruction that we haven’t seen since the darkest days of the timber wars.

And I am not alone. The vast majority of environmental and conservation organizations are fiercely opposed to FOFA.

So I was really surprised to see some organizations that I respect lobby hard in support of the bill. One of those orgs is Citizens’ Climate Lobby, a non partisan climate advocacy group that I respect and have worked with before.

I think that disagreeing respectfully and really listening to conflicting perspectives is a key part of civic engagement in a pluralistic society, so I invited them to come on the show and talk through the bill and some of our differences.

Before we get started, I would love to hear from you, yes you! Send me an email sometime at coastrangeradio@gmail.com

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It is plain for anyone to see that the short rotation, financialized plantation management practiced by the Wall Street investors who own the vast majority of private timberland is destroying our communities and ecosystems.

Coast Range Radio has been highlighting the need for an alternative model of forest management that sustains both economies and ecosystems for years. So when I heard about today’s guest’s research into community forests, I was all ears.

Alexander Harris is the Land and Water policy manager at the bellingham based non-profit ReSources. Alexander recently completed a graduate program in Environmental Policy at Western Washington University, where his research explored how community-driven forest stewardship can help restore watersheds.

(Originally aired 2/26/24)

Research Links/Show Notes:
Restoring The Nooksak Through Community-Driven Forest Stewardship: https://cedar.wwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2151&context=wwuet

Referenced in this episode:
https://www.nwcommunityforests.org/
https://stewartmountaincf.org/
https://nisquallylandtrust.org/our-lands-and-projects/nisqually-community-forest
https://www.dnr.wa.gov/Teanaway
https://co.chelan.wa.us/natural-resources/pages/nason-ridge-community-forest
https://www.sightline.org/profile/kate-anderson/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBKlofDmdpo&pp=ygUOamVycnkgZnJhbmtsaW4%3D

https://www.instagram.com/coastrangeradio/

Today we’re joined by Nathan Daniel, Executive Director of the Great Peninsula Conservancy. Nathan has helped guide some of the most ambitious conservation work going on in Western Washington - specifically on Kitsap Peninsula, the forested lowlands between Seattle and the Olympic mountains.

Big thanks to Andy Shoemaker for co-hosting this episode!

https://greatpeninsula.org/

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