forest voice spring 2001

8/9/2019 Forest Voice Spring 2001

1/16

Paying someone to steal from you. Sound ridiculous? Every day, US citizensare forced to pay for the theft and destruction of their publicly ownedlands. With the tax season not far behind us, now is a good time to thinkabout how your hard-earned dollars are being secretly used and abused by the cor-

porate lackeys in Congress and the White House. How do the government and thesebig corporations get away with it? Theres no accounting at all for what is lost. Honestfinancial records of the public assets we lose simply dont exist. The scale of thecorruption makes the S &L bailout look like chump change. Its nothing short of treason, though few dare to call it that.

In some ways, its hard to put a price tag on our mountains, forests, rivers andstreams. But everyone can agree, theyre worth more than nothing! As this degradationcontinues to affect our daily lives in more tangible ways, the value of this living life-sup-port system becomes more apparent. How much is clean air worth? What about water?As these resources become more scarce, they are worth more. Ultimately, they are worthevery penny you have. Yet the federal agencies that manage public lands often accountfor them as having no value at all!

Two Weeks Pay: Hand it OverAccording to an exhaustive 1998 study by Time magazine, corporate welfare costs every

American at least two weeks pay. Thats right, take nearly half of one monthly paycheck andkiss it goodbye. Uncle Sam used it to subsidize dishonest and destructive corporations in the

form of tax breaks, infrastructure, pollution cleanup and other subsidies. As if that werentenough, a portion of these subsidies goes to the very corporations that are destroying Americas

public lands a living public asset that belongs to us as part of our national heritage.continued on page 2

Native Forest CouncilPO Box 2190Eugene, OR 97402Return Service Requested

Nonprofit Org.U.S. Postage PAIDEugene, ORPermit No 310

Forest VoiceForest VoiceSPRING 2001 A Publication of the Native Forest Council FREE

Would You Pay Someone...Would You Pay Someone...

To Rob You? To Rob You?


2/16

by Executive Director Tim Hermach

Paying Them to Rob You? Forest Voice 1988-2001ISSN 1069-2002Native Forest CouncilP.O. Box 2190Eugene, OR 97402(541) 688-2600Fax (541) [email protected]

Forest Voice is sent free tomembers of Native ForestCouncil. The cost of USmembership is $35 annual-ly ($60 international). Bulk

orders of the Forest Voice areavailable for $25 per 100,plus shipping.Complimentary copyavailable on request.

All rights to publication of articles appearing in Forest Voice are reserved.

Publisher Timothy Hermach

Editor Ed Dorsch

Managing Editor Benjamin Scott

Special ThanksBrett CampbellTom KlinnertFunk and Associates:

Chris Berner, David Funk,Sarah Wiltz

Trygve Steen

Submission GuidelinesWe welcome unsolicitedsubmissions that addressissues relevant to publiclands protection and sup-port the Native ForestCouncils mission. If youwould like us to return yourwork, please include a SASE.

4 Our Nations Tropical Paradise

7 Honeymoons Over (Did it begin?)

Everglades National Park is the only subtropical reserve in the United States. But the future of this fragile national treasure is threatened by Big Sugar.

In his first 100 days, Bush has attempted to destroy or derail as many green policiesas he could find. Check out our digest of his broken promises and vicious attacks.

10 Readers RespondOur environmental education issue created a strong response. Heres feedback wereceived from three of our readers, and an update from teacher John Borowski.

12 Shortage of Wisdom, Not Energy Why keep filling a leaking bucket? Leading environmentalist and economist PaulHawken explains how just a little conservation could solve the energy crisis.

14 A Lifetime of ActivismProfile of Council member, poet and pilot Carl J. Ross. The story of a retireduniversalist minster who started out on a rumbling Harley-Davidson.

CC OO NN T T EE NN T T SS

15 Solutions: Beyond One LifeHistory is filled with ordinary people who, despite all odds, fought for what was rightand won. Victory, though, often came too late for these prescient heroes to see it.

2 Forest Voice Spring 2001

(continued from cover)

The Theft Of Public LandsLogging has severely degraded or destroyed more than

95% of our nations forests. Public lands grazing has ravaged anarea the size of Oregon, California, Washington and Idahocombined. Mining is the top toxic polluter in the nation. Morethan 12,000 miles of rivers and streams and 180,000 acres of lakes have been contaminated. Flooding and erosion acrossthe country have become increasingly extreme.

And We Pay Them For This?The government admits the federal timber program costs

the American taxpayers more than $1.2 billion per year. Andthats a conservative estimate. The real costs in lost resourcesadd up to hundreds of billions more. Mining subsidies runabout $3.5 billion per year. Since the 1872 Mining Law becamelaw over $240 billion worth of minerals from public lands hasbeen given away to the mining industry with zero return to thetaxpayer. Since 1945, taxpayers have subsidized grazing onpublic lands at a cost of about $200 million per year.

Why It ContinuesBad accounting is one reason the theft of public lands

continues. Ive had accountants tell me that they would losetheir licenses and go to jail if they cooked the books thesame way as the Forest Service. Through cost write-offs,deceptive accounting and fraudulent bookkeeping, theycreate the illusion that they are making a profit. Forexample, they count the financial value of a tree as nothing.Zero dollars. Id be happy to argue with anyone about justhow much a tree is worth. But we can all agree its some-thing more than zero! And how do you measure the value of clean air, water and soil? These basic elements of life becomevery expensive as they become more scarce. At some point,they are worth every p enny you have! As tycoon Ted Turnersays, Its hell being rich on a dead planet!

But our greatest challenge is education. After learning thatthey pay for the destruction, most taxpayers are surprised.Then outraged. Why would we pay for someone to destroy ournational parks and forests, wildlife refuges and preservescontrolled by the Bureau of Land Management? First, manyAmericans simply dont know that its happening. Thedishonest industries that rely on subsidies and cheap access topublic lands spend millions of dollars to deceive the public andprotect their image. Theres no conspiracy; its simply a matterof their power and self interest. The federal bureaucracies that

control public lands also have financial incentives to continuebusiness-as-usual on our publicly owned lands. Finally, thepoliticians responsible for this taxpayer scam depend oncampaign funds from the corporations you and I subsidize.

They win. We lose.But the truth is on our side, and the facts speak for them-

selves, simply and directly. And thats why we continue topublish the Forest Voice. With every American who discoversthe truth, we get one step closer to our goal: total protectionof Americas public lands.

Help us spread the word. Pass along your Forest Voice.Drop me a line and Ill send you copies to distribute. Some-one you know thinks were all about saving frogs and snails?Ask them how they feel about giving away two weeks pay.Oh, and mention that scientists have recently discoveredfrogs that might just hold the cure for heart attacks. And,once you have their attention, dont forget to talk aboutclean air, water and soil. You see, this isnt just about savingplants and animals.

Its also about saving a species thats more endangeredthan it might care to believe: the human species. Your helpcan make the difference.

Call, click or write to join the fight

The great American stickup: US taxpayers foot the bill for thedestruction of their publicly owned lands.


3/16

News and ViewsNative ForestCouncilNative Forest Council is anonprofit, tax deductibleorganization founded by agroup of business andprofessional peoplealarmed by thedestruction of our publiclyowned lands. We believea sound economy and asound environment neednot be in compatibleand that current publicland managementpractices are devastatingto both.

The mission of the NativeForest Council is to protectand preserve every acre of publicly owned land in theUnited States.

Board of DirectorsAllan BranscombLarry DeckmanSharon DugganCalvin HecoctaGeorge HermachTimothy HermachMark MinnisNathan Tublitz

Advisory BoardEd Begley Jr.

Jeff DeBonisErika FinstadDavid FunkRev. James Parks-

MortonLewis SeilerFraser Shilling

Executive Director Timothy Hermach

Assistant Director Ed Dorsch

Webmaster Benjamin Scott

Staff Debby SugarmanDeborah Ann Ortuno

Justine Cooper

VolunteersTom Klinnert

Jim Flynn

Forester Roy Keene

Regional RepresentativesRick GormanNew York, NY(718) 380-5663

Margaret Hays YoungBrooklyn, NY(718) 789-0038(718) 789-8157 fax

Wayne NortonGainesville, FL(352) 373-8733

Karyn StricklerSilver Spring, MD(301) 587-8306

Jason TamblynDuluth, GA(678) 969-7013

Barbara ZingreLausanne, Switzerland

Forest Voice Spring 2001 3

Forest Council Drafts LegislationNative Forest Council has started drafting the text

of Forever Wild legislation, and a member of Congresshas agreed to sponsor the bill. Currently, our staff is

working with consultants, congressional staff andattorneys to develop ironclad legislation that will

provide complete protection for Americas nationalparks and forests, wildlife preserves and reserves that

are controlled by the Bureau of Land Management.

Idaho Judge Blocks Roadless ProtectionOn May 10, the Federal District Court for the state of Idahoblocked the Forest Service from implementing the RoadlessArea Rule. The roadless plan, developed during the ClintonAdministration, would provide meager protection for onlysome roadless areas in our National Forests. A group of pro-logging organizations filed suite with the Idaho court,claiming that protecting these areas will harm forests andthat two million citizen comments was an insufficient levelof public input.

Bush Energy Task Force Shrouded in SecrecyThe Bush Administrations energy task force meets in secret,shares no documents and wont explain any policies to the

media. However, according to an April 16 report in TheWashington Post, there are few secrets about the Bush

energy policy: More oil, gas and coal; more refineries,pipelines and power grids. Officials familiar with the

meetings, the Post reported, say the task force islooking at nuclear power and increased drilling in

the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Democrats Also Fighting Finance ReformThe McCain/Feingold/Cochran Bill passed the Senate onApril 2, despite efforts of both Democrats and Republicansto defeat the campaign finance reform bill. Until this year,democrats were united in their supposed commitment tolimiting corporate soft money. However, as the bill becamecloser to reality and Republican support grew, more andmore Democrats opposed the bill. Opponents included USSenator John Breaux (D-LA), who in 1997 called campaignfinance reform our number one priority. Without the GOPto blame, though, many house Democrats are fighting tosave their campaign coffers. The bill faces obstacles in theHouse, including opposition from Majority Whip TomDeLay (R-TX). The first challenge reformers face is gettingtime scheduled for debate on the House floor.To learn more, visit www.commoncause.org .

New Forest Service Chief Same Old PolicyOn March 27, US Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck optedfor early retirement, citing the Bush Administrations focuson resource extraction, rather than conservation. DaleBosworth, who oversees 25 million acres in 12 nationalforests and four national grasslands in Montana, Idaho,North Dakota and South Dakota, will replace him. As aregional forester, Bosworth helped develop lackluster road-less rules and planned salvage logging sales and otherclearcuts in the name of ecosystem management.

NAFTA: Corporations = Sovereign NationsAn April report in The Nation explains how a little-knownprovision of the 1993 NAFTA agreement gives corporations

the same sovereign power as nations. It wasgiven little attention at the time, but Chaptereleven established a system of arbitration forforeign investors to make injury claims againstnational governments. As the number of claims grows, its becoming clear that the rulegives corporations power over governments,even within their own national borders.

New Staff Member Takes It To The StreetsThis April, Justine Cooper joined the Native Forest Councilstaff as volunteer coordinator. In addition to more than adecade of environmental activism, Cooper is an experiencedvolunteer coordinator, radio broadcaster and film editor.Since starting, She has hit the road (and the sky) travelingacross the country to organize volunteers, expand supportfor Forever Wild and begin building a network of grassrootsactivists committed to public lands pr otection.

Mountain Top Removal Debacle ExposedIn the latest issue of Audubon, Ted Williams uncovers thetragedy of mountain top removal mining in Appalacia.Thanks to a volunteer Cessna pilot, Williams was able to seewhat few others (because of industry efforts to hide themines) have seen. In the article, Williams describes thismethod of taking coal from the mountains as taking themountains from the coal. Mountain range removal, asWilliams calls it, destroys the landscape and poisons watersupplies. Williams vividly describes how the most diverseand productive temperate forest on earth gave way to sprawl-ing brown ulcers strewn with black piles of slate spoil anddingy pits full of half-frozen slurry. For more information,and to read the full article, click on the Audubon magazinelink at www.audubon.org and check out the Incite section.

Reprinted with express permission fromTom Toles and Universal Press Syndicate.www.ucomics.com/tomtoles


4/16


River of Grass Teeming with temperate and tropical plants, Floridas Everglades National Park is the only subtropicalpreserve in North America. But this national treasure is threatened. Sadly, The slowest river in the world hasbeen forever altered by one of the most subsidized industries in the world: Big Sugar.

panning the southern tip of Florida, The EvergladesNational Park is the largest subtropical preserve inthe US. Home to many rare, exotic and endangeredspecies, it covers 1.5 million acres.

The Park is a delicate paradox: Native plants and animalsthrive in a place inhospitable to most North American species,but they are also very particular. By increasing phosphorouslevels, for example, sugar farmers upstream have wiped out themeandering rivers of sawgrass, which have quickly beenreplaced by cattails. This, in turn has killed large numbers of wading birds that cannot nest or hunt: one piece of this fragile,complex web affects all of the others.

This fragility is also why the park features such a diversepatchwork of ecosystems: sawgrass prairies, mangrove andcypress swamps, pinelands and hardwood hammocks. Aslightly different elevation, water salinity or soil contentmeans an entirely new landscape , each with its own plants andanimals. Known for its rich bird life, the park is home to largewading birds, such as the roseate spoonbill, wood stork, greatblue heron and a variety of egrets. Two endangered mammals,the Florida Panther and the manatee, can be found in the park,as well as endangered birds, reptiles and an unfortunately longlist of others. Its also the only place in the world where youcan find alligators and crocodiles living side by side.

The Everglades National Park was established by PresidentTruman in 1947, thanks to the persistence of architect ErnestCoe and others who fought to save what was left of the river of grass. To the north, the Big Cypress National Preserve covers729,000 acres. The preserve was established in 1974, largely to

Americas Only Subtropical PreserveBald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalusNine months out of theyear, our national bird is acommon sight in theEverglades National Park.More than 350 differentspecies of birds have beenseen at the park, includingspecies of wading birds,birds of prey and landbirds.

Everglades HistoryReceding oceanexposes vastlimestone plainsto heavy rain.Subtropicalplants thrive inlow-nutrient soil.Cypress swampsand hardwoodforests start todevelop.

Sugar becomesthe New Worldsmost lucrativeexport.In theTriangle of Trade,ships take sugarto England,goods to Africaand slaves back to the sugarplantations.

Congress gives20 million inlandacres of Floridawetlands to thestate in an effortfor reclamationof the swamp-lands,which thestate claims areworse thanworthless.

Crews begindredging theEvergladesswamps.Floridaspopulation onthe coastincreases tenfoldand promoterspromise a canegrowersparadise.

Four huge canalsrun from LakeOkeeChobee toFlorida Bay, 100miles to thesouth, drainingthe swamps andforever alteringthe flow of water a delicatecycle.

As the Floridapopulationexplodes,sugarfarmers soonrealize theexposed swampmuck was notnutrient-rich,astheyd been told,and was notsuited for cane.

By addingphosphorousand nitrogen andbreeding newstrains of cane,farmers finallygrow cane inFlorida,at agreat price:economicallyand ecologically.

The persistenceof architectErnest Coe andothers pays off,when Congressagrees todesignate theEvergladesNational park toprotect theriver of grass.

PresidentTruman opensthe EvergladesNational Park.Ironically, thegovernmentcontinues as theregions chief despoiler, foreveraltering the flowof water.

Cubanrevolution cutsoff sugar importsand Big Sugar isborn.Caneacreage expandstenfold andsugar, big moneyand big politicsstart to becomeintertwined.

A vast river of grass, stretching 40 miles across, flowed all the way from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay, 100 miles to the south. The imperceptible slope of the land (about 1/4 per mile) carried overflowing water from the lake to the sea so slowly that a single drop could evaporate and fall back into the river, repeating the cyclesix times before it reached the sea.

by Ed Dorsch

protect the watershed of the Everglades National Park. To theeast, Biscayne National Park features islands, coral reefs and thelongest stretch of mangrove forest on Floridas eastern shore.

At the same time the federal government was taking stepsto preserve these national treasures, however, it was also subsi-dizing their destruction. Water diversion, pollution and the dis-ruption of river flows have devastated The Everglades.

As park biologist John Ogden says, We once had anecosystem that we called the Everglades. Now we have a verybig wetland out there, and we still call it the Everglades. Butits not. Perhaps, some day, it will be again.

The Everglades National Park covers 1.5 million acres along thesouthern tip of Florida.

3000 BC 1700s 1800s e.1900s 1920 1930 1930-1939 1934 1947 1959

S


5/16


Not So Sweetaul Roberts comprehensive expose of Big Sugar( Harpers , November 1999) is a rather lengthy piece of journalism: more than 11,000 words. But it takes alot to explain how the US government continues to

pay more than a billion dollars per year, so one of the mostsubsidized industries on earth can continue growing sugarcane where it was never meant to grow and trash the Ever-glades in the process.

According to Roberts, Big Sugar and Big Government gohand-in-hand. The federal sugar program adds five cents toevery pound of sugar sold and the politicians who back thesubsidies are rewarded handsomely: $13 million from 1990-98, says Roberts, with tens of millions more pouring into thecampaign coffers of local officials. Nearly every acre of cane isirrigated with tax-supported pumps, dikes and canals that keepthe cane fields from turning back into swampland.

And sugar cane wasnt meant to grow on swampland.At the turn of the century, what little sugar was produced

domestically was grown in Hawaii and Louisiana. Some wasproduced from beets grown in the Midwest. During the 1920s,however, farmers flocked to Florida hoping to grow cane. Theirfirst attempt failed. Building four massive canals, the federalgovernment diverted water from Lake Okeechobee straightto the sea, exposing swamp muck that they presumed wouldbe fertile. They were wrong.

To make things worse, Florida was too cool for cane.These fragile swamps were suited for growing one thing: sawgrass. By adding nitrogen and phosphorous to the soil andcross breeding cane that could grow in the cooler climate,sugar farmers had moderate success. Almost as an after-thought, says Roberts, the bottom third of the swamp waspreserved as the Everglades National Park. But it wasnt until1959, when the Cuban revolution ended sugar exports fromthe island nation, that Big Sugar boomed in Florida. By themid-60s, cane acreage as well as profits had grown at anastounding rate. So had the ties between Big Sugar and BigGovernment. Good thing for Big Sugar, because it takes a lot of government money to keep this business afloat.

A dry land crop, cane needs irrigation, but wont tolerateflooding. It grows best when the water table is two feet belowthe surface, but Everglades is two feet above the surface. Theeverglades ecosystem oscillates heavily: Dry winters exposemillions of shallow pools, trapping fish for wading birds andproviding temporary nesting sites. Wet summers bring trillionsof gallons of water that the grasslands filter as it flows to thesea. With time, tax dollars and extensive environmental harm,Big Sugar and government engineers have forever altered thissensitive life-support system. The two biggest problems arephosphorous and the natural flow of water.

Turning the upper third of the Everglades into cane farmshas severed the swamps from Lake Okeechobee. While thelower glades are parched, the upper glades are drowning.When the lower glades are drained, the exposed soil oxidizes,releasing natural nutrients that blow away or float off in therain. These nutrients, combined with additional phosphorousused to fertilize sugar cane, causes eutrophication: New plantsgrow quickly, then die. Decomposing plants suck oxygen fromthe water, killing the algae that fish eat. Sawgrass is graduallyreplaced by cattails, making it impossible for native birds toland, nest or feed. The only solution may be to turn the sugarcrops back into swamp. Even with cleanup costs estimated at$8 billion, it would be cheaper than continuing the federalsugar program. As Roberts quotes James Bovard of the Catoinstitute: Paying lavish subsidies to produce sugar in Floridamakes as much sense as creating a federal subsidy to growbananas in Massachusetts.

But stopping Big Sugar hasnt been easy. In 1988, the USAttorney in Miami sued the state of Florida for failing toenforce its own water regulations. Big Sugar couldnt get thecase, or the attorney, thrown out. So they spent millions to dis -credit the research and won. In 1991, after the state agreed tocut phosphorous levels, Big Sugar filed three dozen lawsuits tokeep it from happening. The sugar industry gave millions toelection campaigns in 1992, republican and democrat alike,and was handsomely rewarded with a Clinton restoration

plan that suspended state water standards, capped industrycosts and left taxpayers with the cleanup bill. By 1996, Floridacitizens fought back with a statewide initiative, but weredefeated by Big Sugars $23 million campaign. In 1995, theCongress took a stab at stopping subsidies, and, again, sugardollars won, ending reform of the Farm Bill.

Theres so much more to the not-so-sweet story; contact Harpers and get a copy of Roberts article: www.harpers.org

Box TurtleTerrapene carolina

In the fresh water marshes and ponds of EvergladesNational Park, you can find striped mud turtles,peninsula cooters and Florida red-bellies. If you arewalking through the pinelands or hammock youremost likely to find a Florida box turtle. More thanfifty species of reptiles and amphibians live in thepark, the only place in the world where alligators and

crocodiles live in the same habitat.

Florida Panther Felis concolor coryi

These large, tawny catsare actually a subspeciesof mountain lion, ananimal that was once acommon sight in muchof the United States.The Everglades NationalPark is home to theFlorida Panther and themanatee, two listedendangered mammals.Endangered speciesfound in the parkinclude reptiles, birds,butterflies and insects.

ore than 6,000 years ago, the Atlantic Ocean recededslightly, exposing vast limestone plains, in what isnow southern Florida, to heavy rains. It was aninhospitable environment, but a select number of

subtropical plants thrived in the low-nutrient limestone soil.A vast river of grass, stretching 40 miles across, flowed allthe way from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay, 100 miles tothe south. The imperceptible slope of the land (about 1/4per mile) carried overflowing water from the lake to the seaso slowly that a single drop could evaporate and fall backinto the river, repeating the cycle six times before itreached the sea. Thanks to the federal government and BigSugar, though, all that has changed (see Not So Sweet at right).

Fragile Mosaic

Arent You NativeForest Council?

Obviously, the EvergladesNational Park isnt a forest. Butthe Council is working toprotect all of Americas publiclyowned lands. This includesnational forests and parks,wildlife preserves and areascontrolled by the Bureau of Land Management.

The story of Big Sugar andthe Everglades is all-too-familiar: They take whatbelongs to us, destroying anatural life-support system,and the government forcesus to pay them to do it.

Right now, the Council isworking to pass legislationthat will protect TheEverglades and all 650million acres of our nationsmountains, forests, riversand swamplands. Recently amember of Congress hasagreed to sponsor a ForeverWild bill. Look for updatesin the future, or visit ourwebsite:www.forestcouncil.org.

Learn More Online:www.cato.orgwww.dep.state.fl.us

www.floridasportsman.comwww.forestcouncil.orgwww.harpers.orgwww.nps.govwww.miamisci.org/ecolinks/everglades/www.alligator.orgwww.opensecrets.org

Army Corps of Engineersfinishes its mas-terpiece:1,400miles of canalsand levees andthe largest pumpin the world endthenatural flow of the Everglades.

The river of grass, 40 mileswide and 100miles long, iscontrolled bythe government.Alligator andwading birdpopulationsdeclinedramatically.

US Attorneysues Florida forfailing to enforceits own waterstandards.BigSugar spendsmillions to try toget the Attorneydisbarred anddiscredit theresearch.

State officialsmake a break with Big Sugarand agree toreduce waterpollution levels.Big Sugar filesthree dozen law-suits to keep theregulations fromtaking effect.

Big Sugar poursmillions of dollars into thecampaign coffersof Republicansand Democratsalike.Its moneywell-spent: Sugarexecutives getdirect access toClinton.

Clintons InteriorSecretary unveilsEverglades Forever

Act 3,writtenprimarily bysugar lobbyists.The bill letssugar off thehook and stickstaxpayers with acleanup bill.

Frustrated withClinton andcorporatewelfare,a groupin Congress triesreform throughthe farm bill. BigSugar stops itwith $2 millionand a fake grass-roots campaign.

Clintonsrestorationapplies only toareas outsidesugar farms.Mainstreamenvironmentalgroups back Clinton.Manyothers opposehim.

Big Sugar spends$23 million todefeat Floridaballot initiativethat would makepolluters pay forwater cleanup.Sun Sentinal editorial calls it atriumph of misinformation.

Half of Floridasoriginal wetlandno longer exists.Many species areat risk of beinglost forever.TheFederal SugarProgram coststaxpayers$1,400,000,000every year.

Marine/Estuarine: Seagrass on the marine bottom sheltersfish and sustains the food chain that supports all highervertebrates in the bay. The hard bottom areas are home tocorals and sponges.

Mangrove Forest: Mangroves thrive in tidal waters, wherefreshwater from the Everglades mixes with saltwater. Thisestuary system provides crucial habitat for shrimp and fish,as well as wading birds.

Coastal Prairie: An arid region of salt-tolerant vegetationperiodically flooded by hurricane waves and buffeted byheavy winds. Succulents and other low-growing desertplants thrive in the harsh conditions.

Freshwater Marl Prairie: Bordering the deeper sloughs arelarge prairies with marl sediments, a calcareous material thatsettles on the limestone. The marl allows slow seepage of thewater but not drainage.

Freshwater Slough: The deeper and faster flowing center of abroad marshy river, moving 100 feet per day. Tree-islandscalled hammocks or heads dot this vast landscape, whichchannels life-giving waters from north to south.

Cypress: Deciduous conifers that can survive in standingwater, cypresses often form dense clusters called cypressdomes in natural water-filled depressions.

Hardwood Hammocks: Hammocks are dense stands of hard-wood trees that grow on natural rises of only a few inches inthe land. They appear as teardrop-shaped islands shaped bythe flow of water in the middle of the slough.

Pinelands: The most diverse habitat in the Everglades, pineforests boast more than 200 varieties of tropical plants. Pinesroot in crevices where soil collects along the jagged bedrock.

A Diverse Patchwork

Park FactsLargest designated wilderness east of the Rocky Mountains.

Largest continuous stand of sawgrass prairie in North America.

International Biosphere Reserve, World Heritage Site andWetland of International Importance.

One of the most endangered parks in the United States.

1963 e. 1960s 1988 1991 1992-93 1994 1995 1996 1996 Today

M P


6/16


1620

1850

2001

Excuse me , I think youve made amistake. Those cant be pictures of our

NATIONAL FORESTS... Are they?

*

Mt. Hood National Forest. Photo by Tim Hermach

And this really is a quote from an audience member at one of NativeForest Councils presentations. She was so astounded by these photos, sheactually thought we mixed up our pictures of public and private land.

*

Your National Forests:

Then and Now...

Photo by Daniel Dancer

YES, thesereally are YOURNational Forests.

Photo by Michael Williams

Think the government wouldnt think of doing this to your Forests? Think again.


7/16


8/16


Threatened: Americas


9/16


Publicly Owned Lands


10/16


Readers Express Opposing Views on Education and the Environment

High School TeacherThanks, Native Forest Council!

Wow!I just got my hands on the Forest Voice.I found the article about environmental education to be

very eye opening! I was trained as a research scientist while ingraduate school. I started out working for the department of health, then I made the decision to go to the classroom becauseI think that is where we need to get people interested in makinga difference in their environment.

I have been in the classroom for three years and I amhorrified with the attitude of most of the other scienceteachers. I think part of the problem is that science teachers

should have a BS in their subject matter.Too many of them have a teachingdegree and couldnt really tell you aboutthe real science. I have discussions regu-larly with my students and they alwaysrespond with a Why didnt anyone elseever tell us this before? I have freshmenwho have never heard of Rachel Carsonor Silent Spring . I teach freshmen throughseniors and will never cease to be amazed

at what they have not learned much less been exposed to bythe time they reach my classroom.

I attended my first National Science Teachers AssociationConference in St. Louis and also picked up many free thingsbecause as you know, teachers will take anything free. I foundmuch of the free stuff to be very disturbing. Although, amongthose free things was the Forest Voice . What great stuff!

Ironically, while I was at the conference, a substituteteacher pulled a video from my departments video collectionon the Exxon oil spill. When I watched the movie for discus-sion with my class, I was absolutely horrified! It painted a verybenign picture of the incident, and all those scientists wearingtheir Exxon lab coats . . . Needless to say, I reshowed the videoafter having a discussion with my students regarding the ideathat they should always question the sponsor regarding any-thing they see.

It turned out to be a wonderful lesson and discussion. I washorrified to find that our department library is loaded withsuch stuff. I found your article very interesting and veryneeded. I will pass it along to my fellow teachers and hope itisnt met with a cold shoulder.

Keep up the good work. Im joining Native Forest Council!

Thanks,I am teaching your childrenLaurie Hart

The Fall 2000 issue of Forest Voice ( Whos Teaching Our Children?) exposed how corporations promotetheir agenda in schools, often under the guise of environmental education. It also sparked controversyamong our readers, including a teacher and two industry advocates who sent in their two cents worth.

I have discussions regularly with my studentsand they always respond with a Why didnt

anyone else ever tell us this before?

Ironically,while I was at

the conference,a substitute

teacher pulled avideo from mydepartments

video collectionon the Exxon oil

spill. When I

watched themovie fordiscussion withmy class, I was

absolutelyhorrified! It

painted avery benign

picture of theincident...

A growing bodyof educators

are alsoquestioning theindustry charla-tans. And Native

Forest Councilwill be there

with ideas forteaching kids

the truth aboutwhat is happen-ing to Americaspublicly owned

lands.

The Corporate RepsMr. Hermach,

In the Fall 2000 issue of Forest Voice (The CorporateTakeover of Environmental Education), the description of business participation in environmental education over-looked examples of beneficial partnerships betweenindustry and environmental groups. There are many examples andwe would like to share just one.

Through an independent and copyrighted curriculumdesigned solely by Oregon Trout, their Salmon Watch programis designed to provide both classroom and field exposure tomiddle and high school students. The curriculum is science-based and focuses on the needs of native salmon and healthywatersheds. Once grounded in the basics of watershed healthand salmon life patterns, students are introduced to the diffi-cult questions of balancing natural resources arid human needs questions they will be called upon to answer in their life-times. The program is funded by contributions from pub-lic agencies, private donors and local businesses; the fieldtrips are supported by a well-organized diverse pool of teachers and trained community volunteers.

Teachers are informed professionals. As experts ineducation, they can determine the quality and usefulness of various curricula provided by outside sources and indepen-dently determine their teaching plans that best suit theirclassroom. Teachers know the importance of developing stu-dents critical thinking skills and understanding differentperspectives around an issue.

We agree with the authors recommendations for parentsand teachers to review sources of environmental educationmaterials, research different viewpoints and develop theirown conclusions. We believe it is also important to pursuecommunity partnerships that can expand students' educa-tion opportunities.

In addition to the enhanced student experience, part-nering builds relationships between organizations andencourages open communication. Organizations, agenciesand businesses that take cooperative and objectiveapproaches to education will best help students developimportant skills for determining the future of our communi-ties and their resources.

Jim StarkDirector Environmental EducationWeyerhaeuser Company

Bill SmileyDirector of EducationOregon Trout

Head to Head

Your description of business participation inenvironmental education overlooked

examples of beneficial partnerships betweenindustry and environmental groups.

Corporate Polluters Target Kids. Again.The National Science Teachers Association held its 2001 national convention in St. Louis Missouri. Once again, Native ForestCouncil was there to present the truth about public lands. And, once again, corporate America showed up in full force tofill teachers tote bags with pro-industry propaganda, disguised as environmental education.When the Forest Council attended its first NSTA Convention (the largest of its type in the world) last year, we were outraged.

Corporate flacks handed out slick classroom materials claiming that global warming was a myth, plastics were great for theenvironment and clearcutting helps forests. Further research led to a cover story in the Forest Voice, and subsequent versionswere printed in Utne Reader, High Country News and PR Watch . Native Forest Council began building a network of teachersinterested in learning more and distributing the Forest Voice to more teachers and schools.

This year, 3,600 exhibitors (most corporate-backed) once again hawked their lies. Standing at my booth, my daughter and Idistributed Forest Voices, posters and articles. I was a bit daunted; just two rows from my booth, Michael Sanera, co-author of the anti-environmental book Facts Not Fear, was peddling his political sewage. Overwhelming? Yes. I confronted Sanera,questioning whom he worked for and why. Did it make a difference? Certainly a small one. At least they know they cannotcontinue with impunity. And the teachers will know that there are many of us who question this pseudo-science they ped-dle our kids.

More important, as a teacher, I connected with other teachers. A growing body of educators are also starting to question theindustry charlatans. Native Forest Council will be there with ideas for teaching kids the truth about what is happening toAmericas publicly-owned lands. And well be at the NSTAs 50th anniversary convention next March in San Diego.

-John Borowski

-Laurie Hart, highschool teacher


11/16


George W. Bushs Americaby Julian Borger and Terry Macalister

The home of global capitalism can be found just outsideDallas. Set in the midst of a sprawling industrial park, it isa huge, squat pink stone edifice, with a sloping black roof like a rustic villa, but a villa made for giants.

It is the headquarters of Exxon Mobil, and it houses a plushmanagement suite that is known across the energy industry asthe God Pod, with the reverence befitting a corporationwhich last month emerged as the most profitable in the histo-ry of human endeavor.

It is no exaggeration to say the decisions made here in Irv-ing, in this high temple of private enterprise, will shape thefuture of the planet.

Exxon Mobil, which trades in Britain as Esso, does notbelieve in the certainty of global warming It casts doubt onevidence that industrial emissions of greenhouse gases are rais-ing temperatures. And not only is it skeptical, it has conductedan aggressive and expensive public relations operation to chal-lenge scientific orthodoxy on the subject, as part of its battle tohalt international efforts to put an expensive cap on thesmokestacks.

Now a new Republican government, elected with the helpof $1.2 million from ExxonMobil, has abandoned the cen-terpiece of those internationalefforts, the Kyoto treaty onglobal warming. The BushAdministration, staffed fromthe president down by formeroil executives, has also ruledout plans to limit US emissionsof carbon dioxide in the fore-seeable future.

The exact link between campaign contributions and thesubsequent acts of an administration can only be guessed at.But Exxons critics argue that the behemoths assertive embraceof any scientific evidence against global warming howeveranecdotal or dubious in origin has lent it a credibility it doesnot deserve. It has also given President George Bush cover forhis rejection of Kyoto.

The mood in Irving in the new Bush era is confident, evenjovial. But it is equally clear that its executives have been puton their guard against complacency. Exxon Mobil (born of amega-merger in 1999) has, to say the least, an image problem.

In Australia, the first ever conference of the worlds greenparties yesterday agreed to launch a boycott against Exxon andother US oil companies. They want to send a message to thecompanies on the role they allegedly played in getting Mr.Bush elected.

We know we have a giant target painted on our chests,said Ken Cohen, Exxon Mobils head of government relationsand public affairs. Consequently, the company has decided toemerge from its customary insularity and mount somethingresembling a charm offensive.

And that is presumably why the outer gates of the God Podwere opened last week, and two of the corporations vice presi-dents were deployed to explain why Exxon Mobil remainsdubious about global warming and how it is neverthelesscleaning up its act the free-market way.

Mr Cohen and Frank Sprow, in charge of safety and envi-ronmental health, both insist that Exxon Mobils position hasbeen misunderstood. Rather than denying the existence of global warming outright, they argue, Exxon Mobil is simplypointing out the room for error in such an ever-changing andunpredictable phenomenon as climate, and urging caution.

You really cant bring human influence out of the noise of natural variability at this point, Mr Sprow said. Science is aprocess of inquiry... Id like the answer tomorrow afternoon butit may be a decade before the science really gets crisp, becausetheres so much fundamental information that has to beworked on.

Even though the science may not be rock hard, Mr Sprow

said, Exxon is working on alternative energy sources, such aslow emission fuel cells for cars, and cutting down emissions inits refineries. It spends $12 million a year research-ing means of reducing carbon dioxide emissions,and has so far managed to reduce its own outputby 3%.

These arguments have not convinced the cor-porations enemies in the green camp. It is bigenough and controversial enough to have galva-nized an entire environmental movement, Cam-paign Exxon Mobil, devoted to keeping it undersurveillance.

The campaigns spokesman, Peter Altman,argues that the vaunted $12 million in carbondioxide research is a fairly paltry share of the $17billion net income Exxon Mobil earned last year.Furthermore, he said, whatever beneficial effectthat money might have is more than outweighed

by the corporations role in undermining the accepted wisdomthat global warming is a real threat.

Other oil companies, such as BP and Shell, have crossed thebarricades. At its annual general meeting on Thursday, BP willcome under pressure from green activists who have laid downformal motions calling on the company to switch moreresources to the development of renewable energy sources.

However, Exxon Mobil has kept up the fight on climatechange, going out of its way to support maverick skeptics

whose conclusions agree withits own.

The big difference withExxon is that it spends a lot of time and money in getting thatmessage across, Mr Altmansaid.

In particular, the Exxon chair-man, Lee Raymond, hasreferred approvingly to a 1998

petition apparently signed by 17,000 scientists questioning theevidence for global warming. However, it later emerged thatthe petition had been circulated by a certain Oregon Institutefor Science and Medicine, an obscure body of eccentric viewswhose headquarters turned out to be a large tin shed.

The petition had been disguised as the work of the Nation-al Academy of Sciences and it had been signed by suchauthorities as Ginger Spice and the fictional doctors from thesit-com M.A.S.H.

The controversy, Mr. Sprow said, had arisen from unfortu-nate misunderstandings. Mr Raymond had not sought to claimthe Oregon petition as definitive, but only to raise provocativequestions about the nature of climate change science.

Mr. Sprow is urbane and sophisticated. He insistedrepeatedly that Exxon is not in a state of denial over glob-al warming. However, on two vital issues, it is clear thatExxons position remains unchanged.

It does not have faith in the dire warnings issued this yearby the UN-appointed International Panel on Climate Control(IPCC) and it is vigorously opposed to the Kyoto treaty.

In its latest assessment of the threat, the IPCC found newand stronger evidence that most of the warming observed overthe last 50 years is attributable to human activities. The panel,which consulted about 2,000 scientists from 100 countries, pre-dicted that the earth would heat up between 1.4 and 5.8degrees celsius over the next century, with potentially cata-strophic results.

The report was presented as a scientific consensus, butExxon challenges that claim. It points to the role of politicalappointees on the IPCC in selecting and summarizing scien-tific evidence. The same sort of people were promoting abureaucratic solution to the problem embodied in Kyoto.

Mr Sprow argued that there is little likelihood of Kyotobeing implemented by the majority of industrialized countries,and that it would hardly make a significant difference to long-run greenhouse gas emissions even if they did.

For Exxon, these are both reasons to dump the treaty. ForKyotos supporters, however, they are all reasons to put thetreaty (which would require a seven percent drop in US emis-sions between 1990 and 2012) into effect quickly and then

move beyond it.By poking spanners into the works, the environmentallobby believes, Exxon is helping delay concerted action to staveoff global warming and the chaos it may wreak with the cli-mate.

Exxon is grasping at straws, said Kert Davies, the directorof Greenpeaces US global warming campaign. Theyre look-ing for everything they can do to reposition the existingknowledge on global warming from fact to theory.

Even before its current public relations drive, Exxon hashad remarkable success in making its influence felt.

But perhaps more importantly, Exxons executives appearto hold sway over a man who once dreamed of rivaling theirsuccess but failed as an oil man and had to settle this year forbecoming President of the United States

2001 Guardian Unlimited. Reprinted with permission. NativeForest Council would like to thank The Guardian for allowingus to reprint this article. www.guardian.co.uk

How the High Priests of Capitalism Run Roughshod Over Fears for Planet

The petition had been disguised as the workof the National Academy of Sciences and ithad been signed by such authorities as

Ginger Spice and the fictional doctors fromthe sit-com M.A.S.H.

Exxons executivesappear to hold

sway over a manwho once

dreamed of rival-ing their success

but failed as an oilman and had to

settle this year forbecoming presi-

dent of the UnitedStates


12/16


There is a humorous Sufi story about Mulla Nasrudin,who is crawling on all fours late at night under astreetlight outside his house. A friend wanders byand asks him what he is doing and Nasrudin tells him heis looking for his lost house keys. After joining thefruitless search for some time, his friend turns to him andasks him exactly where he lost them. Nasrudin points tothe backyard of the house. His friend is incredulous andwants to know why they have been searching in the frontyard near the street. Nasrudin says : Because this is wherethe light is.

The purpose of the tales of Nasrudin is to reveal howthe mind creates illusions, which then pass for reasonablebehavior. In the US thereis the illusion du jour:We are running short of energy and need more.Not only has Californiahit the wall, but there areominous warnings fromNew York City rightacross the country that we may have entered a newp e r i od o f e n e rg y d e fi c i ts w i t h a l l t h e s u f fe r i ngthat will entail : inflation, economic stagnation andjoblessness. Perish the thought; lets drill for oil.

The proposals to drill in the Arctic National WildlifeRefuge, though it is one of the worlds most climaticallyhostile locations, seem reasonable in this light. If it isscarcity that determines somethings value, then what isscarce is not oil or even energy, but the wisdom to use itwisely. Instead, we are the most profligate with respect toenergy use. If that wisdom could be found in an oil wellor vein of coal, America would be thewisest country in the world. How wastefulare we?

Imagine a water tank that supplies agrowing town in an arid region. The wateris filled by a well that draws from anaquifer, but the tank is old and leaky as arethe pipes that carry the water into thehamlet. For every hundred gallons of waterthat goes into the tank, only two gallonsgets to the villages inhabitants. The rest islost at the tank or on the way. With newhouses being built and more familiesarriving, the town is running out of water,and people are complaining. The mayorproudly announces that he is going to diga new well a thousand miles away andpump it across the desert to their watertank and calls on his city council toappropriate these needed funds so that the town does notsuffer economically. Everyone applauds. He is a hero.

This is the way we deal with energy in the U.S.Measurements of energy calories, BTUs, kilowatt-

hours are ways to indicate the amount of work a givenamount of oil, gas and electricity can accomplish. In theUS, for every 100 units of energy that we introduce intoour economic system nearly 98 units are wasted. Thatsright, we are two percentefficient.Building a pipelinein the fragile environment of the arctic circle to deliver oilthat will not arrive for anoth-er ten years and would onlysupply 180 days of total USconsumption will only doone thing: satisfy the Senators of Alaska and the CEOs of oil companies. It will do nothing for US energy security.

W hat President Bush has completely overlookedare the proven alternatives that greatly increasethe productivity with which energy is used.There are now a plethora of innovative productivitytechniques that can reduce energy consumption fifty-foldgreater than the purported supply of oil in ANWR, andthey are cheaper, more effective and create more jobs.

If the USGS esti-mates are correct, thereis a 95% chance that theANWR will provideabout 1.9 billion barrelsof oil starting in 2011.That would run the carsin the US for about threemonths. Improving fleetmileage 0.4 mpg in ourlight vehicles would accom-plish the same objectivewith the importantexception that it would costconsumers less.

These savings are just the tip of theiceberg. US fleet mileage is currently 24mpg, a 20-year low. Hybrid electric carsnow appearing in show rooms will triplethat figure. Current models such as the ToyotaPrius get 48-mpg city/highway combined.There are now over 350,000 on the road hereand abroad. VW is alr eady selling a car that gets78-mpg and is said to have a 200-mpg car available in2003. The Big Three a re testing family sedans that willhead for production in the next three years that exceed70 mpg. Another way to think about this is that we cancreate the equivalent of about 30 Arctic Refuge oilfields in

Detroit with good engi-neering. It takes bad poli-tics to exploit only one.

Before we get a dropof ANWR oil, we will bedriving electric carspowered by fuel cells.These cars, whose emis-

sions are hot water vapor and oxygen, have an extraordi-nary secondary use: They are mobile power plants with5-10 times the total power output of all our nuclear andcoal plants. Parke d cars can fee d electricity into thegrid, the reby forever eliminating the need for dirty, large,centralized power plants.

In buildings, manufacturing, processing and constru c-tion, similar savings abound. The mindset that made carswith one percent energy efficiency created our buildingsand cities too. With relatively low-tech methods includingnew glazing, proper siting, efficient lighting and passive

heating and ventilation, we can createstate-of-the-shelf, quiet, thermally com-fortable buildings that are a visual delig ht.These buildings save 30-50% over conven-tionally built structures that are too hot,too cold, too drafty, too noisy and not sogreat to work in. Integrating green build-ings with new urbanist planning and lay-outs can further reduce traffic, noise,energy and waste by equal amounts.

In industry, huge cost and energy sav-ings can be attained as we move awayfrom the petrochemical-dependent reactivechemistry that produces a witchs brew of toxic compounds, which are permeatingour environment. New enzymatic techniquesnot only promise safer compounds, butlow-temperature manufacturing that canreduce energy costs by 90%.

The possibilities for energy efficiency in all aspects of industry are almost overwhelming in their diversity andpossibility. The good news is that these savings are madeof tools, products and services that can be created every-where in the US. They do not depend on oilfields, largecapital investment or putting critical environments atrisk.

President Bushs energy policy will reward what a fewsenators and oil executiveswant, but not what theAmerican people want.People are not clamoring forthe destruction of a sensitivearctic habitat, for moregreenhouse gases, for climati cinstability or the wanton

disregard of the traditional home of the Gwichin people.What Americans want is security, jobs, stable prices andan intelligent energy policy. Ignoring the leaky watertank on the hill cannot attain this.

Of course, 100% efficiency is impossible according tophysical laws. But America could have a goal of 10%

efficiency, an objective that would allow robust economicgrowth while reducing overall energy use by two-thirds inthe next twenty years, a goal that would lead us awayfrom the oil age, an age whose end is inevitable.

The oil age is ending, not because we are running outof oil, but because we have a better idea. The Stone Agenever ran out of stones either. We are on the threshold of a profoundly different economy with respect to energyuse. The continued governmental subsidy of coal and oil,whether in Alaska or Virginia or Kentucky or any otherstate whose senators have seniority, is a sure-fire way tohobble America's competitiveness.

We lead the world in so many areas of technology. Wecan do it with energ y too. Mark Twain said, You cant seeif your imagination is out of focus. To focus theimagination of a nation, a country that is economicallystrong and environmentally conservative, requires justone quality: leadership out of the oil age, not haltingbackward steps into it

By Paul Hawken

Paul Hawken is anenvironmentalist,educator, lecturer,entrepreneur,journalist, and best-selling author. He isknown around theworld as one of theleading economicthinkers and advocatesof ecologically soundbusinesses.

His books, articles andpublic lectures haveinfluenced hundreds of companies to changetheir operations andbecome moreenvironmentallyfriendly.

This article appearscourtesy of the author.

All copyrights reserved 2001 Paul Hawken.

There is a 95%chance that theANWR will giveus about 1.9billion barrels of oil, starting in2011.

Improving fleet mileage 0.4mpg in our lightvehicles wouldaccomplish thesame objective,and would costconsumers less.

The US energysystem is only2% efficient.

High-efficiencybuildings cansave 30-50% inenergy costs.

We can createthe equivalentof 30 ArcticRefuge oilfieldswith better cars.

What Americans want is security, jobs, stableprices and an intelligent energy policy.

Ignoring the leaky water tank on the hillcannot attain this.

If it is scarcity that determines somethingsvalue, then what is scarce is not oil or even

energy, but the wisdom to use it wisely.

Wisdom the Real Shortage


13/16


Forest Council Staff SpotlightMichael Hendrix

TO HELP SAVEPUBLIC LANDS

I WANT YOU

Currently seeking:

Justine Cooper Volunteer Coordinator 541.554.1354 Cell541.688.2600 [email protected]

Native Forest Council is lookingfor citizens committed to savingpublicly owned lands.If you are independent, self-motivated and

you are dedicated to saving whats left andrestoring whats been lost, contact us now.

Remember, you dont have to live inOregon or even the US! We have staff members and volunteers across the nationwho contribute what they can when theycan.Dont just get mad, do something.

Join a national group of hard-workingprofessionals fighting to save whats leftand restore whats been lost.

For more information, contact:Native Forest CouncilP.O. Box 2190Eugene, OR 97402541.688.2600www.forestcouncil.org

Activists AttorneysForest Voice distributors

DesignersExecutive AssistantExperienced writersPhotographersResearchers

Volunteers Web designers and copywriters

W hen Michael Hendrix came to work for the NativeForest Council last June, we knew we were gettinga dedicated professional, but we had no idea wewere getting a professional fondue chef as well.

Hendrix was a Jack of All Trades: front office helmsman,research sleuth, problem solver and web page steward. Hefielded phone calls with tremendous aplomb, took care of our volunteers and most importantly kept the rest of usfrom taking ourselves too seriously.

And he made a pretty mean fondue.No office envelope stuffing party was complete without

a spread of extraordinary breads and his secret recipe, made-from-scratch fondue. Sadly, the recipe remains his secret.

After graduating from the University of Oregon with adegree in Archeology in June 2000, Hendrix began workingin our Eugene, Oregon office, helping coordinate operationsand keep the staff smiling with his unconquerable humor.

Applying the research skills he learned as an archaeologystudent, he helped unearth crucial information about publiclands issues for the Council: Oil drilling, legislative ridersand legislative process. Thanks to his indefatigable curiosityand stubborn attention to detail, the Council was able toprovide current information on important issues.

Hendrix enjoys snowboarding, hiking, home brewingand, of course, cooking. Like several others in the office, hewas a dedicated bike commuter, braving Oregons winterrains to get to work without using fossil fuels.

Michael and his wife, Maggie, live in Cortez, Colorado,where Michael has started working on archeology field stud-ies at Mesa Verde National Park. The archeological sitesfound in Mesa Verde are some of the most famous and bestpreserved in the nation. An astronomy buff, Hendrix will bestudying the relationship between the stars and the beliefs of ancient cultures.

He will also to continue his work with the Council as aRegional Representative, building relationships with federalpublic lands agencies, distributing copies of the Forest Voiceand working as an advocate for our publicly owned lands.

But he will be sorely missed here in Eugene. Hendrix isone of a kind. Hes also one of the hundreds of Native ForestCouncil volunteers and staff members across the nation whoare working to save Americas public lands.

Now, if he would only tell us that fondue recipe

Council office manager Michael Hendrix recently left Oregon for Colorado to work on an archaeological di g in Mesa VerdeNational Park and continue outreach work for the Council.

When Michael Hendrix came to work forNative Forest Council last June, we knew we

were getting a pro, but we had no idea wewere getting a professional fondue chef.


14/16


A Lifetime of Activism

The road that eventually brought Carl Nelson tothe Native Forest Council started with a shiny,rumbling Harley Davidson in 1937. Nelson grewup on a farm near the small town of Medford, Wiscon-sin, and moved into town after graduating from highschool.

In a couple of years I had saved up enough moneyto buy that Harley - the first one they ever made withan overhead cam. During the summers of 1937 and

1938, Nelson rode cross-country, through Louisiana,the Sierras of California and as far south as MexicoCity. During these trips, Nelson was moved by themagnitude of the American wilderness, an expansive-ness captured in the poems of Yeats and Byron: worksthat had moved him to write his own poetry.

By the time he returned from his travels, the coun-try was gearing up for World War II. In 1940, Nelsonsays he did what many young men were doing. Ienlisted because I knew I would be drafted eventually.Nelson achieved the rank of 2nd Lieutenant andbecame an instructor at Quantico, VA for two years. Healso earned his wings, which I received the day afterthe war ended, he says. Nelson counts himself luckyto never have been involved in combat.

I was an instructo r for two years, and many, manyof the boys I met never came home, including hisentire squadron of Martin Torpedo Bombers. I hadstopped flying only two weeks before. You've heard of those five bombers that were lost in the Bermuda Tri-angle? There would have been six had I kept flying.

Soon after leaving the Marine Corps, Nelson mar-ried Janet, his wife now for 57 years, and entered theUniversity of Minnesota, but then entered the ChicagoTheological Seminary. During this time, he alsobought 200 acres near his boyhood home in Wiscon-sin. Nelson graduated from the Chicago TheologicalSeminary in 1949, having focused his graduate thesison the nature of divinity and its relationship todemocracy.

The Creative Power, whatever you want to callitis within the whole of creation, is within every-thing, he said, All human beings have this creativepower in them. Thus, democracy is the logical politi-cal development from this concept, he recalled.

It was during his first jo b as a minister in Wellesley,MA, that he began to work for human rights. Therewas a lot of discrimination in housing, against theblack and Jewish people there, so we rallied our entirecongregation to help make fair practices.

They formed a grassroots group called the Welles-ley Fair-Housing Practices Committee, which eventual-ly did succeed in helping eliminate some of thehousing discrimination. I actually ended up with awonderful black woman for my next-door neighbor,which never would have happened before.

Over the years, Nelson continued to travel, pub-lished three books of poetry and fought more battles:for human rights, democratic practices and the envi-ronment. He marched with Dr. King in Selma, Alaba-ma, and protested capital punishment, nuclearproliferation and the Vietnam War while living inEugene, Oregon and later, in Wausau, Wisconsin.

After he retired, Nelson and Janet began to travel,forgoing the Harley for a tiny trailer called a Scamp,which became their second home while exploring thebeauty of the southwestern deserts and the lush forest sof the Pacific Northwest, among other places. It wasamazing to see how these places had changed [sincemy trips on the Harley], he says. The sprawl. Thehouses. They had just eaten up everything.

So Nelson became increasingly involved with pub-lic lands issues, which he believes are intrinsically con-nected to human rights issues.

You work on human rights and have a sense of democracy and equality. The whole universe is inter-twined and interdependent, and you can't have yourhuman rights apart from your animal rights or your[environment] or anythingit's all interrelated, heexplained.

By 1976, the 200 acres that he had bought decadesago in Wisconsin for $1,300 had become so valuable(thanks to the same urban sprawl he fought), that hecould no longer afford the taxes. This land was morethan just a treasured family ret reat; it was also a water-shed important to the nearby community. So Nelsonstruck a deal with the Forest Service, who would buythe land and preserve the ecosystem. He founded theSouth Twin Lakes Conservation Society to help makesure that the Forest Service preserved the land as heintended.

Fighting for what is right takes a lot of energy, andNelson has learned that It's awf ully easy to have burn-out. Staying inspired is one of the reasons he hasenjoyed working now with Tim Hermach, director of the Native Forest Council. You get a charge out of talking with Tim - and that's what we all need.

At 85, Nelson is still fighting for the preservationof America's lands. The South Twin Lakes Conserva-tion Society is working to keep a high-voltage powerline from cutting through quite near the very piece of land that Nelson sold to the Forest Service. And he isstill traveling with his wife Janet, visiting their grand-children, and working on his fourth book of poetry

By Benjamin Scott

And though I do acceptevil, death, and dissonance,let me not capitulate.

Let me not bewail the evil that besets me,nor sulk that dissonance should mar the perfect chord,nor succumb while yet alive to rigor mortis.

Let me dedicate myself to tip the scale toward the side of life;let me add my mite to the treasury of good;let me increase, if just a bit, the beauty on the earth.

From the title poem of Eternity Can Wait ,by Carl J. Nelson

Carl J. Nelson: Poet, Harley Rider, WWII Vet And Native Forest Council member.

Forest Voice Distribution is Growing. You Can Help!Fight for public lands protection across the nation by distributing the Forest Voice.

We believe that education is the first step toward permanent protection of Americas publicly owned lands. When citizenslearn that their tax dollars are used to subsidize the destruction of public lands, they become outraged. Then they want todo something about it. Thats where Native Forest Council comes in. By educating citizens and mobilizing activists, we cansave Americas mountains, forests, rivers and streams.

And we rely on supporters like you to help spread the word.

Join the nationwide Forest Voice distribution network and help us get the truth to as many citizens as possible. ContactNative Forest Council today to become a distribution volunteer. Please include your street address, the number of papersyou would like (bundles of 50, please) and where you plan to distribute them:

Forest Voice Distribution VolunteersPO Box 2190 | Eugene, OR 97402 | 541.688.2600 | [email protected] | www.forestcouncil.org

Fighting for whatsright takes a lot of energy. Nelson haslearned that Itsawfully easy tohave burn-out.

Staying inspired isone of the reasons

he has enjoyedworking now with

Tim Hermach,Director of theNative Forest

Council. You geta charge out of

talking with Tim and thats what

we all need.

At 85, Native Forest Council member Carl Nelson is still traveling the country with his wife, working on his fourth book of poetry and fighting to save Americas public lands.


15/16


Solutions: The Power of OneSave public lands? Every last acre? Impossible! Its easy tofind reasons why it wont work. Its harder to get to workand find reasons we will succeed. Without a doubt, savingour nations mountains, forests, rivers and streams will (likemost worthy efforts) take some hard work. And some faith.When I was working with social justice groups in El Salvadorduring the early nineties, someone asked a clergyman how hecould keep on working, despite the horrible things that hadhappened and continued to happen around him. Hisreply? Faith is not based on results.

Steadfast faith a belief in a cause despite overwhelmingodds and the immediate results that you see has alwaysbeen a necessary component for change. But we dont need torely on faith alone. History gives us countless examples of dedicated citizens who, against all odds, changed laws,society and lives. Change didnt come easy for themeithe r. Sometimes, it didnt even come during the lifetimes of those leading the charge.

But it did happen.So much of what we take for granted today was the result

of a long and difficult struggle: suffrage for women and AfricanAmericans, basic labor rights (including what we now take forgranted as the weekend) and freedom from legal slavery.

At the time these struggles began, achieving these changesseemed impossible. Many doubted it could happen. And theseskeptics sounded prudent, while the instigators of changeseemed radical even dangerous. But the courage of thosewho questioned the status quo, bolstered by conditions sounbearable that the public had no choice but to join the fight,created the momentum to make change happen.

Such momentum is building among those who want topreserve our public lands Americas living life-support system for the sake of future generations. The effects of squanderingour source of clean air, water and soil, without accounting forthe lost resources, are becoming all-too-apparent. They simplycannot be ignored. As we continue to build awareness, uniteunlikely allies and rally the people of the United States and theworld, a sea change becomes possible. This sentiment will notbuild in a linear fashion, but will grow exponentially, asmomentum shifts and the balance shifts to conservation.

Still lack faith? Read these three stories (and there are hundredsmore) of ordinary people who fought against extraordinary odds,against so-called common sense. And won. Criticized for beingtoo radical. Threatened. Reviled. Even jailed and fined. Thesegreat Americans were heroes because they were able to lookbeyond one lifetime and stand up for what was right

Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton led the fight for womens suffrage. Neither lived long enough to vote.

The HurricaneRubin Hurricane Carter was a middleweight boxer well

on his way to becoming world champion when he and a friendwere wrongfully convicted of a triple murder in his hometown

of Paterson, NJ in 1966.After eight years in prison, Carter published an autobiogra-phy. In 1980, Lesra Martin, a 15-year-old from the Brooklynghettos who had been adopted and taught to read by threeCanadians, found a copy of Carters biography by pure chance:the book had been out of print for more than a year, and it wasthe first book Martin ever read. He and the members of hisnew family were so motivated by the story that they spent thenext five years fighting for Carters freedom.

In 1985, the efforts of this grassroots campaign wererewarded. Federal appeals judge H. Lee Sarokin set Carter free,saying Carters trials had been based on racism rather thanreason, and concealment rather than disclosure.

Carter is now living in Canada, and serves as the executivedirector of the Association in Defense of the Wrongly Convict-ed, a group he formed in 1993 to reduce the likelihood of future miscarriages of justice and, second, to review and, wherewarranted, attempt to overturn wrongful convictions.

Olaus and Margaret MurieOlaus and Margaret Mardy Murie fought tirelessly for

wilderness, helping stop dams in Glacier National Park andDinosaur National Monument, and working to create GrandTeton National Park and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.Their testimony was pivotal in the passage of the Alaska LandsAct, and the Wilderness Act of 1964.

The Murie homestead became a nexus of the conservationmovement, where conservationists and scientists from all overthe world would come for inspiration and wisdom. The ranchbecame a pseudo-headquarters for the Wilderness Society whileOlaus was director from 1945-1962. It was also there thatmuch of the Wilderness Act was drafted.

But Olaus never lived to see that victory, succumbing to ill-ness only months before the passage of the act that remains themost powerful protection for publicly owned lands. Mardy hascarried on their torch to this day, continuing to fight for ournations wilderness.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. AnthonyStanton met Anthony in 1851. Together, they spent the

next 50 years fighting for womens rights. Neither lived to votein her own country, but Stanton and Anthony led the strugglefor womens suffrage. They began fighting for legal reform inNew York State, opposing unfair divorce and property rightslaws. Anthony organized women from across the state, deliver-ing speeches that Stanton wrote. After the civil war, they beganto focus on the root cause of inequality for women: a lack of theright to vote. They published the Weekly Revolution in New YorkCity and, in 1869, formed the National American Woman SuffrageAssociation. In 1872, Anthony de fiantly cast a ballot in thepresidential election. After her arrest and conviction, sherefused to pay the $100 fine. The 19 th Amendment, whichgranted women the right to vote, was not adopted until 1920.During their lifetimes, they were considered dangerous radicals even criminals. But Stanton and Anthony were brave leaderswho changed the very nature of our democracy.

Hate got me in here. Loves going to bust me out. Thanks toone boy who wouldnt give up, Rubin Hurricane Carter was set free after being convicted for a crime he did not commit. Today,Carter works to help the wrongfully convicted.

Mardy and Olaus on the Murie ranch in Moose, Wyoming, circa1957. Photo courtesy of the Murie Family and the Murie Center.

History gives uscountless examples

of citizens who,against all odds,

changed our laws,our society and

our lives. Change

didnt come easyfor them either.

Sometimes, it didnot even come

during the lives of those leading thecharge. But it did

happen.

by Ed Dorsch


16/16

$35 Standard Member$50 Supporter$60 International Member$100 Contributor$500 Conservator

Name ________________________________________________

Address ______________________________________________

City_______________________ State ______ Zip ___________

Phone ____________________ Email _____________________

My check is enclosed.Please bill my: VISA MasterCard

Card number: ___________________________________________________

Exp. date: ______________ Signature: ______________________________

Planned Giving:Native Forest Council offers many planned giving opportunities.Gifts of stock, real estate and other assets may offer tremendous taxsavings for you and provide the Council with a greater net gift. If you are interested in planned giving or need assistance with estateplanning, contact Native Forest Council at: (541) 688-2600.

Mail To:Native Forest CouncilPO Box 2190Eugene, OR 97402

$__________ BenefactorId like to make a monthly giftof $ _________________________

Bill my credit cardPlease deduct my monthly gift from mychecking account. Im sending a signedand voided check. I understand deductionsmay be stopped or adjusted at any time.

FSp0501

I want to help get the word out. Please send a complimentarycopy of the Forest Voice to:

Name _____________________________________Address ____________________________________City ________________ State____ Zip _________


I want to give a gift membership of $35 to:


Join Native Forest Council

Fund Raising: 11%

Management/General: 5%

Programs: 84%

Spending Contributions Wisely and Efficiently:Native Forest Councils 2000 Expenditures

Become part of a team of professionals committed to saving our publicly owned lands.

Membership Form:

Please send me information aboutthe tax benefits of planned giving.

BECAUSEYOU KNOW W HOSTILL GUARDSYOU KNOW W HAT...

We re still fighting.

As long as the bureaucrats entrusted to protectyour public lands profit from their destruction...

As long as the government continues to subsidizecorporate welfare ranchers and Big Coal...

As long as corrupt corporations have more cloutthan the people...

We will fight to protect America s publicly

owned lands. If you or someone you knowcares about preserving our nation s mountains,forests, rivers and streams, please join or givethe gift of membership to Native ForestCouncil. Because it s time to throw the fox outof the henhouse.

BECAUSEYOU KNOW W HOSTILL GUARDSYOU KNOW W HAT...

forest voice spring 2001

Documents