Buying Back Our Public Forests

People have used a lot of different strategies to prevent the logging of public forests. On Washington state's Olympic Peninsula, environmental advocates led by Elwha Legacy Forests recently found success buying back units of forest from a logging company before most of the trees could be cut.

In 2024, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (WSDNR) sold the logging rights to a piece of public land known as the "Doc Holliday" forest. The forest included old-growth trees and a well-established ecosystem.

When efforts to convince WSDNR to rescind the sale failed, Elwha Legacy Forests and its partners reached an agreement with the logging company. The company would not log the forest if the environmental advocates could raise enough money to compensate for the lost timber profits. 

Earlier this month, Elwha Legacy Forests announced that it had reached its fund-raising goal. Although a few acres of the forest had been logged, the majority of it will continue to stand. All told, the campaign to protect this public forest raised more than $560,000 in a few months.

Buying public forests to prevent logging on them is an interesting strategy. I can't say for sure that it's always going to work, but one forest still stands because of it, and that's good news.

Finns of a Feather

Finns around the world have some similar ideas when it comes to birds.

As a Finnish-American, I have long wondered about the impacts of logging during bird breeding season. Wouldn't it be a good idea to take a seasonal hiatus from logging while birds nest in the trees?

Apparently, I'm not the only Finn who's had these concerns about birds. According to this news article, the Finnish government plans to ban logging in some forests during nesting season. Under the bill, loggers would also have to assess a forest's bird population before logging. Finland's proposed logging regulations respond to a 2025 ruling by the European Court of Justice, which upheld a similar ban in nearby Estonia.

When I saw the news, I felt very excited for two reasons. First, I loved seeing a government protecting birds. Second, it was cool to see my idea reflected in the policies of a country to which I have a personal and a cultural connection.

In summary, Finnish minds flock together on the subject of protecting birds.

Conserving Public Lands

Speaking of public lands, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (WSDNR) announced on August 26 a new approach to forest management that will help conserve public forests in the state.

After I wrote my last two blog entries about the threats posed to public lands by private interests and the need to preserve those lands, the announcement from WSDNR that it will conserve 77,000 acres of forest owned by the state, including all remaining 10,000 acres of older forest, called for a third post.

In the past, WSDNR has often sided with private interests in the choices it's made about Washington's forests, meaning Tuesday's announcement represented a substantial and welcome shift in policy. As my earlier posts argued, a renewed effort to protect public lands is much needed these days, so WSDNR's new policy comes at a crucial time. It's a big win for environmental advocates and defenders of the public good, and hopefully, it's a step toward a better future.

Conserving the forests covered by the new policy also helps address global warming. The older forests can store carbon, and they give WSDNR the ability to sell carbon credits, proving that protecting public lands pays off environmentally and economically.

I wish to thank WSDNR and Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove for instituting this policy. Upthegrove became commissioner in January after winning election in November 2024, and so far, he has demonstrated the vision and courage to lead the department and defend public lands. Thank you for protecting the public interest through conservation.

I Like the Way They Think

For several years, I have been thinking about the possibilities for preserving an area that has special meaning for me, and as it turns out, the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife had similar thoughts.

One of my first introductions to outdoor life was fishing in Pacific County in Washington state. Aside from timber companies and people out fishing and hunting, the area had little human activity. It was a special place to get away and fish with my dad.

Over the years, my connection to the area has grown. I have thought it would make a good place for some organization to purchase and preserve for wildlife and recreation. 

To my surprise, when the Department of Fish and Wildlife announced its new round of proposed property acquisitions for 2024, a portion of the area where I fish was included in the list. Of course, the announcement would have made me happy even if I hadn't previously thought about ways of conserving the area, but the fact that they had found a place that I felt deserved protection made the news especially sweet. I submitted my comments with enthusiastic support for the acquisition.

We'll have to wait and see if the Department of Fish and Wildlife goes through with the proposal, but I like the way they think, so I have high hopes.

A Friendly Reminder

When I heard the news that Forterra had helped conserve a Girl Scout camp in Grays Harbor County, I thought to myself, "I know that place!"

Sure enough, Camp Klahanee, for which Forterra recently purchased the conservation easement, is the camp I was invited to visit by my cousin's Girl Scout troop in 2006. The news of the purchase brought back memories of my trip to the camp and why I had been invited there in the first place.

In late 2005, at my cousin's request, my mom and I gave a presentation to the troop about Finland. It was a fun evening as we shared information about the country and our experiences there. The next summer, the troop invited us to Camp Klahanee as thanks for our presentation. Set in a forest, the camp is beautiful and quiet. We had a great time at the troop's picnic.

As the Forterra press release explains, "Klahanee" means "friendship" in the Chinook language. Thus, the news was a friendly reminder of some happy experiences from the past and of the importance of conserved land in providing space for community building. Through a partnership with the Polson Park and Museum Historical Society, Forterra has ensured that Camp Klahanee will continue to serve as such a space.

A reminder that our environment offers us opportunities to grow and connect is a great way to end one year and look ahead to another.

Connections and Relationships

Building connections and relationships has always been crucial to social causes. Its importance continues to grow as the bonds linking society fray and rupture.

In its efforts to undertake conservation projects in southwest Washington, which I previously blogged about here, Conservation Northwest is taking steps to ensure such connections and relationships have strong roots.

On July 20-22, the nonprofit organization will co-host the Southwest and Coastal Washington Connectivity Summit. The summit will bring together nonprofits, tribes, government agencies, land owners, and businesses to lay the groundwork for future efforts to ensure habitat connectivity and address ecological issues like global warming. This will be the first summit on these issues in southwest Washington, but the plan is to continue holding them every two years.

This year's event is in Ridgefield, Washington. However, it can also be attended virtually.

I'm very excited to see the potential of the relationships that come out of these summits.

Pieces of Possibility

Executing big ideas can require piece-by-piece action. 

Comprehensive visions of environmental conservation are both vital and exciting. We must think those big thoughts if we are to create a scope of action that operates on the level of ecosystems. Additionally, such expansive goals help us rise to the challenge of major environmental issues like global warming. Very importantly, big plans generate energy and enthusiasm about what's possible. 

Still, when it comes to making possibilities into realities, a different, smaller, and typically more demanding approach takes the wheel. We must prepare to work at issues over a long period of time and take opportunities where we can find them even if they are small and scattered. It's about being meticulous and tenacious and comprehending the long-term commitment necessary for success. Conservation Northwest's Cascades to Olympics program, which I previously blogged about here, is shaping up to be a great example of how we need to piece together major projects. Check out the video below to learn about the program and how people are finding ways to make it happen.

   

I really like how Conservation Northwest has looked for possible options that help provide connectivity for wildlife between the Cascade Mountains and the Olympic Mountains. They have assessed the areas that would maximize connection and then looked for opportunities to make those connections better. Each piece requires its own unique work. For example, on the Satsop River in Grays Harbor County, Conservation Northwest has found a way to make the most of a bridge by clearing space for wildlife to walk under it. By contrast, along Interstate 5, the organization is working with the Veterans' Ecological Trades Collective to perhaps create a wildlife overpass that would provide wildlife with a safe option for crossing the freeway. Put together with other projects over a period of years, the work on the Satsop River and the potential I-5 overpass could produce the kind of connectivity Conservation Northwest desires. 

The dream seems more possible as dedicated and hard work puts pieces in place.

The Non-Human and an Expanded Notion of Social Change

Perhaps social change in this era needs a change in what we think about as social. Two recent examples of individuals connecting with the non-human world provide clues for how that might happen.

Without question, we face some massive and serious social and environmental issues. These include our ability to address global warming, mass extinctions, increasing poverty, and a deterioration of the social bonds and institutions that bring people together and build communities.

At the same time, we struggle to generate the kind of momentum that produces the changes required to address these issues. In fact, the breakdown of social bonds and institutions likely feeds into that struggle, creating a vicious circle of unsolved problems and declining abilities to solve them.

After reading about two individuals who discovered strong connections with the non-human world and went on to become important forces for change on both social and environmental issues, the thought occurred to me that one of the obstacles impeding change might be that our definition of what is social should be expanded to include the non-human world. In other words, issues like global warming are so far-reaching that to address them adequately, we must bring all hands, paws, wings, roots, and whatever else on deck.

Connections with the non-human world can provide the kind of spark necessary for successful social change. The stories of Rodney Stotts, a falconer from Virginia, and Bob Russell, a landowner in rural Washington state demonstrate the power these connections have. In the case of Stotts, an early experience with conservation and a subsequent connection with birds of prey inspired him to centralize conservation in his life and help others enjoy and benefit from the same kinds of connections. His work has allowed people to rethink their place in the world and find second chances and catharsis. For the 63-year-old Russell, a chance encounter with a determined salmon on his property in November 2014 launched his commitment to conservation and prompted him to become an advocate in his community.

Importantly, the efforts of Stotts and Russell indicate how inspiration from and connection with the non-human world can serve as catalysts for actions that help rebuild the social bonds so crucial to the process of social change. Many factors currently limit our ability to produce social change, but one that isn't often talked about is that we might not be considering how vital non-human entities are to the effort. Possibly, these non-human entities can become partners in the process, helping us begin, facilitate, and optimize the activities that generate social bonds, form communities, and yield the changes we need.

From now on, when we think about what is social, we would do well to think about more than just humans.

Dreams on the River of Restoration

The conservation dreams about the Chehalis River in southwestern Washington state continue to grow bigger with more and more groups and organizations supporting preservation and restoration projects in the river's basin.

At first, conservation projects on the river popped up piece by piece. For instance, I previously blogged about the plan by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to purchase the Davis Creek Addition, which sits along a portion of the Chehalis in eastern Grays Harbor County. Then, a larger conservation framework began to develop in the form of initiatives like Conservation Northwest's Cascades to the Olympics program.

Another part of the framework is taking shape under the restoration program orchestrated by Pacific Northwest conservation group Forterra. By specifically focusing on the Chehalis River Basin, Forterra is bringing the river to the forefront of Washington's conservation efforts. A recent announcement of the organization's purchase of a 23-acre property along the Satsop River, a tributary of the Chehalis, demonstrates the far-reaching nature of the dreams to protect and restore the latter river. What these conservation groups are doing goes well beyond the banks of the Chehalis, linking the river to mountains and other streams in the watershed.

Although these different projects and programs come from various organizations and have some unique objectives, they also have the potential to combine for a massive and profound conservation effort. Each piece helps, and the gathering momentum points toward a lot more possibilities in the future. It's the kind of scale on which all dreams of conservation must be executed.

Perhaps the best part of this work is that it's no longer just a dream. The reality is beginning to match the visionary ideal.

SW by Conservation NW

The time has arrived for southwest Washington to come out of the conservation shadows.

Long eclipsed by the Cascade Mountains, the Olympic Mountains, the Washington coast, Puget Sound, and the Columbia River Gorge, the interior of Washington's southwest region missed out on many important conservation designations. It lacks a snow-capped volcano, and the Chehalis River looks far less imposing than the Columbia, so instead of being set aside for protection, it was carved up by the timber industry.

A view of Minot Peak in the Willapa Hills
from the Chehalis River Basin.

Now, at long last, this region's important role in Washington's ecosystem has taken center stage because Conservation Northwest has launched its Cascades to Olympics program. At first glance of the title, the program appears to once again emphasize the state's charismatic features, but the less celebrated southwest region sits at the core of this project.

Cascades to Olympics prioritizes the future of the Chehalis River, the placing of wildlife crossings on Interstate 5 and Highway 12, and the commitment to conservation and restoration projects throughout the region. The key to all of this is the recognition of southwest Washington's ability to connect the Cascades and the Olympics. Such an approach takes a more comprehensive view of habitat, species movement, and ecosystems. All told, along with recent news about preserving parts of Grays Harbor County and stopping the dam on the Chehalis River, the Cascades to Olympics program indicates a new commitment to protecting an often overlooked part of Washington. For more information about Cascades to Olympics, click here.

As someone who hails from southwest Washington, I couldn't be happier that it is finally getting the attention it deserves from the conservation movement.

Ends to an End

Exciting conservation news came from both the east and west ends of Grays Harbor County in Washington state this year.

Part of the proposed Davis Creek Addition.

First, in February, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) announced that the Davis Creek Addition has successfully moved from the public-review phase to the funding phase. Last year, I wrote about the public review of this project in eastern Grays Harbor County and called on others to support it, so I am very happy to see it accepted for the next phase, which, according to WDFW, involves seeking grants to pay for the acquisition.

Further welcome news came this summer from Grays Harbor County's coast. As the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office announced via Instagram, Ducks Unlimited secured the full purchase of the Elk River Unit, which will be added to the Johns River Wildlife Area and managed by WDFW. Full of diverse and vital habitat, these newly protected 1,670 acres offer much for humans and wildlife.

The announcements about the Davis Creek Addition and the Elk River Unit have importance beyond their individual achievements. Since both constitute additions to existing protected areas, they represent the next step in conserving and connecting important habitat. Furthermore, these east-west bookends set a model for future efforts all over Grays Harbor County.

In the end, each piece adds up to a big conservation effort.

Close to My Heart

Naturally, we want to protect the things closest to our hearts, so I am asking for help in conserving a piece of nature close to mine.

Wetlands at the Davis Creek Wildlife Area Unit.

Two weeks ago, the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WSDFW) announced a set of land-acquisition projects for 2020. Of course, all of these projects are important to expanding the department's conservation and wildlife efforts, and I support each of them, but tucked in amongst the others, you'll find one of special value to me.

The Davis Creek Addition represents the only piece of Grays Harbor County to make the list of possible acquisitions. It would add 416 acres to the existing 535-acre Davis Creek Wildlife Area Unit and would provide key habitat for many bird species. Those are all great reasons to support this proposed acquisition if you have never visited this out-of-the-way pocket of southwest Washington, but I have personal reasons as well.

An old farm provided the land for the existing wildlife area.
Now, WSDFW has an opportunity to add to the unit with the
acquisition of land both north and south of it.

Protecting the land on the Davis Creek Addition feels like protecting a part of myself. I've felt similar feelings for other conservation efforts before, but this part of me resides right in my core because that property sits so close to where I was raised. I've driven by it hundreds of times. Friends from childhood lived within walking distance of it. I remember playing on the prairie just across the road. So when I visited the Davis Creek Unit a few days ago, the importance of protecting and expanding it enveloped me. I felt intimately connected to it, and I realized that conserving it means safeguarding a piece of my heart.

WSDFW will take comments on the 2020 acquisition projects until January 3. You can e-mail your comments to lands@dfw.wa.gov or mail them to: Real Estate Services, PO Box 43158, Olympia, WA 98504.

With all my heart, I hope you'll join me in asking WSDFW to purchase the Davis Creek Addition.

A Palm Victory at Hand

An important victory over palm oil is so close we can almost touch it.

Two months ago, I blogged about the Sumatran Orangutan Society's (SOS) Rainforest Home campaign, which seeks to raise funds to buy a strategic piece of land and restore it from palm-oil plantation to native rainforest. SOS broke the fundraising for the $1.1 million purchase into three phases. They hit their first two installment goals and now need just another $350,000 to secure the land. Check out the video below to learn more about the campaign.



As mentioned in the video, the plantation SOS seeks to purchase has strategic value even beyond its boundaries. Of course, the plantation land will benefit from restoration and give native species more room to live. However, the property would also serve as a buffer between development and pristine rainforest. That makes this last $350,000 invaluable.

SOS needs the final installment of fundraising by the end of February. If you are looking for causes for end-of-year donations or perhaps want to start 2019 on a hopeful note, please consider chipping in for this campaign. Here is the link to donate.

Let's not allow this victory over palm oil to slip through our fingers.

Taking Palm Matters into Their Own Hands

As palm-oil companies continue to grab up land, including areas in national parks, despite the pleas of environmental advocates, groups like the Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS) have begun taking the matter into their own hands.

For years, we've heard about the awful impacts of palm-oil plantations. They clear out rainforest and replace it with monoculture oil palm trees, displacing the native wildlife and destroying entire ecosystems.

Despite the growing awareness and campaigns designed to persuade international corporations from using palm oil, more and more rainforest disappears in the name of greed. The corporations continue to drag their feet, watching as the forests go up in flames or fall by the chainsaw.

Instead of waiting any longer for the companies to do the right thing, environmental groups have started buying the plantations and restoring the land to its natural condition. The current campaign from SOS seeks to raise $1.1 million to purchase a plantation in Indonesia. Click here and watch the video below for more information. The video creatively uses characters from Disney's The Jungle Book.



The existence of rainforest ecosystems and the wildlife that live in them is in our hands; corporations are too busy snatching land and cash to protect them.

Winning Gamble

You can't hit a jackpot worth more than the recent conservation victory at the Port Gamble Forest in Washington state.

Last summer, I blogged about the collective effort, led by conservation group Forterra, to protect the forest from development. Through a press release yesterday, Forterra announced the purchase of the final 1,500-acre parcel of forest. All told, the conservation project preserved 4,000 acres.



The risk in attempting to secure the Port Gamble Forest came from the possibility of losing it forever if the funds necessary to purchase it could not be collected. Once developed, the large parcel would lose its incalculable value as an ecosystem. However, the conservation coalition of groups and agencies came together so everyone in the region might benefit from the rewards of preserving that land. It's a major win with an amazing return on investment.

In the end, the Port Gamble acquisition resulted from hard work, generous donations, and a commitment to conservation, not from gambling, but it will certainly produce an environmental windfall for Washington state.

A Small Price for Priceless

Paying $3.5 million really isn't much when it buys something priceless.

With the population of the Pacific Northwest continuing to grow rapidly, intact ecosystems disappear under paved streets and homes with startling and saddening regularity. However, efforts to protect some of the important wilderness areas have helped limit the damage; and the fundraising for one such preservation project comes down to the wire this month.

The Port Gamble Forest in Kitsap County encompasses 3,000 acres of wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities. Facing the prospect of seeing the land subdivided into housing developments, a coalition of groups, including environmental organization Forterra, two Native American tribes, and local land trusts, put together a campaign to raise the $3.5 million needed to preserve it. Check out the video for the campaign below:



As an important ecosystem, sanctuary, and place of recreation, the Port Gamble forest carries a value greater than any dollar amount. Protecting it takes an important step in maintaining the spirit and ecology of the Pacific Northwest. If you would like to contribute to the campaign by the July 31, 2017, deadline, click here. As of the last tally, they only need about $900,000 more, and that's a small price to pay indeed for this amazing place.

Let's raise the money to protect Port Gamble. We can't afford to lose it.

The Shredding of Our Moral Core

According to Immanuel Kant, "We can judge the heart of a (person) by his(/her) treatment of animals." In a more general sense, that behavior, along with how people treat the environment, probably also says something about the heart of a society.

It is with a heavy heart then that I have watched recent environmental policy coups play out around the United States. For example, as this article from BuzzFeed describes, the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives recently passed legislation to reinstitute the barbaric killing of wolves and bears on wildlife refuges in Alaska. The approved tactics include aerial shooting and killing pups and cubs in their dens. To say nothing of the fact that these activities would take place on wildlife refuges, the inhumane legislation reveals those supporting it as sadistic, sociopathic, and bereft of conscience.

Morally corrupt as it is, the wolf-bear policy displays a cunning level of strategy. Targeting wolves and bears proves a clever tactic for unraveling the threads of human concern and environmental policy. As apex predators, those species indicate the health of the ecosystems in which they live. When they're wiped out, proponents of environmental exploitation can more easily make the case that extracting resources will not damage an ecosystem anymore than it already is. Additionally, as charismatic megafauna, wolves and bears generate public concern, and people rally to save them. In short, these species are critical to environmental preservation, and it is no accident legislators are targeting them.

We see the reasons for using bears and wolves as strategic targets in environmental policy proposals and decisions across the country. Stripping the species of their federal protections takes the first step in breaking down the systemic mechanisms that foster, institute, and enact our environmental ethics. Eliminating key reasons to protect the land opens the door to proposals that allow for expanded environmental exploitation. For example, we've already seen a proposal to permit oil and gas drilling in national parks and renewed efforts by Democrats and Republicans in the state of Alaska to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Ultimately, taking federal government out of the picture puts our environment in the hands of private interests, which is exactly the point of these policies. One of the best (though most egregious) examples of this process comes from Oregon, where a state board led by Democratic State Treasurer Tobias Read voted to sell off the Elliott State Forest to private interests. Covering the story, Men's Journal calls the sale "the natural conclusion of a land losing federal protection" and "a bad sign for America's public lands." Throwing away our heritage of conservation and our responsibility to future generations, the board sold the forest for short-term profits.

In the place where our moral and environmental ethics once found their footing, a corporate callus now resides, an indifference to anything other than consuming resources and making money. That's how, according to Greenpeace, the public relations firm for Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline, ended up writing the letter in which the Republican governors of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa asked the Army Corps of Engineers to approve the pipeline.

At their heart, these actions by our elected officials represent a bipartisan, corporate attack on the core of our society and the shredding of our moral and environmental fabric.

Common Ground of the Pacific Northwest

Welcome to the land where environmentalists provide more timber jobs than the logging industry.

For years, the increasing mechanization of logging has stripped away tree-falling and mill jobs in Washington state and Oregon. Work that used to require dozens can now be done by a handful. In contrast, this article demonstrates how the environmental movement can increase logging jobs while addressing important environmental issues.

In summary, the story documents how Oregon Wild, a regional environmental group, enlisted loggers and a mill in John Day, Oregon, to thin forests at risk from wildfires. The thinning reduces fuel for the fires. It has also kept John Day's Malheur Lumber mill going, led to the hiring of more mill workers, and produced a 10-year contract for a local logging company.

The impacts of collaboration in this story are amazing. Some of the old hostilities between environmentalists and loggers are still apparent in the article's quotes, but they serve more as testaments to the power of common ground to overcome major political and social obstacles. Perhaps the most powerful realization is that once the ice was broken, innovative ideas like using logging for conservation purposes and developing ongoing partnerships flowed freely. When we are able to let go of positions that keep us apart, we can achieve a lot.

The partnership between environmentalists, loggers, and the mill in Oregon shows how finding common ground and new ideas can revitalize public discussions, help resolve conflicts, and result in a better world.

A Goal for Iran

We'll need a world-class goalie to make this save.

Along with playing in this year's World Cup, Iran's national soccer team took on an important conservation concern. In an unprecedented move, FIFA, the governing body for international soccer, agreed to allow the Iranian team to wear jerseys displaying the image of an Asiatic cheetah.

With the jersey image, Iran hopes to enlist international help in a movement that has mobilized the country's conservationists. The world has fewer than 75 Asiatic cheetahs left (all are thought to live in Iran), but the declining numbers have inspired Iranians to study and protect the cats, and the country's government has taken steps to stabilize the cheetah population. To strengthen its cheetah-conservation efforts with international support, Iran successfully petitioned FIFA to make an exception regarding rules for jersey features. For more details on this story, click here.

When a species' population drops to numbers as small as those of the Asiatic cheetah, keeping it from extinction becomes a major challenge. It's the kind of project that requires much work, constant attention, and international cooperation. Sharing the message about Iran's cheetahs at the World Cup will hopefully bring the resources needed to protect these cats.

The Iranian soccer players may not be able to use their hands on the field, but they are lending one to the preservation of their country's cheetahs.

Always Another Bend in the Road

Turning a new corner means having the chance to see some unfamiliar sights.

My experience of Earth Week this year opened up a lot of uncharted territory. As I blogged about last month, I helped in efforts to boost sustainability and environmental engagement at the University of South Dakota and in the city of Vermillion, South Dakota. With its various activities, Earth Week on campus and in the community was a big success and laid the groundwork for more to come.

My favorite experience of the week served as both a celebration of this year's work and a hope for the future. On the Saturday following Earth Day, I participated in a guided nature hike at North Alabama Bend, a piece of land the US Army Corps of Engineers owns and works to preserve. The hike included information about the land's relationship with the Missouri River and the resident eastern cottonwood trees, the people who had tried to homestead it, and the work being done to keep it in a natural state. Special thanks to Tim Cowman for guiding the hike. To learn more about North Alabama Bend, click here.

Despite a strong wind blowing for the full two hours, I enjoyed the hike. I'd never been to the property before, but the experience left me with the urge to explore it more in the future. It was the perfect way to cap the week and look ahead to new projects and experiences.

There's a place up ahead, and I'm going just as fast as my feet can fly.