Environmentalists and Loggers Find Common Ground

There is a rumbling in the woods, no it’s not Sasquatch but something just as unheard of is occurring in a remote region of Washington that could set new  stewardship standards for other Western states in the form of groundbreaking wilderness legislation. For Today’s OpenRange, I’m Susan Allen back after the break. Who would have thought that a former Earth First radical now head of Conservation Northwest, Mitch Friedman is pushing a forest initiative that has the support of logging companies and actually allows for  the inclusion of off road recreational vehicles and cattle.

It seems incomprehensible that environmentalists and the logging industry representatives have had round table meetings for months  to hammer out a plan to add more than 180,000 acres of wilderness to the ColvilleNational Forest and haven’t been at each others throats. Actually they have created an aura of respect in their willingness to  create a corridor that could link the Cascades to the Rockies and protect the states grizzly habitat. In the proposed Columbia Highland Initiative, Conservation Northwest notes  the benefits of having a relationship with the Northwestern Forestry coalition especially when it comes to thinning  and clearing  forests and maintaining  roads. In return for conservation help the group has dedicated specific areas for logging in the ColvilleNational forest and off ATV  recreational use. It is still a bit iffy how this legislation will effect grazing permits but refreshingly it  seems this group has created  room for conversation and suggestion.