Oregon: Activism of the WOPR & Beyond Coalition
At a day-long conference in Portland on Wednesday, WOPR & Beyond
Coalition members were a vocal minority. They called for a shift to a
paradigm touted by UO Law Professor Mary Wood as the Nature’s Trust
Doctrine, in which federal agencies are obligated to protect natural
resources, forest-based economics are relocalized and harmonized with
natural systems, and in which strong scientific evidence and
restoration are dominant themes.
Samantha Chirillo, member of Cascadia
Rising Tide and Organizer of the WOPR & Beyond Coalition, explains,
“On public forest lands, the time is now to protect our dwindling
native, biodiverse forests as carbon storage systems and put thousands
of people to work removing logging roads that will otherwise continue
to release tons of sediment into our waterways and render salmon
recovery efforts impossible. We need to protect our waterways from
road deterioration now before the unemployment figures get much worse
and while we still have the affordable fuel to get the job done.”
Nevertheless, she reports, the environmental establishment pushes
ahead with the same stale agenda, failing to engage the public and
seek broader support from labor and social justice interests, thereby
failing to achieve a groundswell needed to implement a bold new agenda
whose time has come. “Only by joining forces with other movements and
taking the offensive will the environmental movement regain its
credibility and be able to save the planet from climate crisis.” On
Sunday, 17 Oregonians, including members of Cascadia Rising Tide (CRT)
and Benton Forest Coalition, as well as several Salem residents,
approached the Governor’s mansion with a signs and a banner that read
“Stop Clearcutting the Climate.” After a security guard turned them
away, the advocates went to the Governor’s office on Monday,
ultimately settling for leaving the basket with Executive Assistant to
the Governor Jo Bell. CRT members explained to Bell the purpose of
each item in the gift basket, intended as a more personal way to
convey their unwavering support for the Governor in objecting to the
WOPR than the tree sit or 300-person rally that the group recently
held. The basket included a letter from CRT (see attachment), homemade
cookies, a photo album of WOPR-threatened forests and opinion pieces
written in opposition to the WOPR, a book on ecoforestry practices,
and DVDs produced by Coalition partners: one from the Clearcutting the
Climate Conference on the forest-climate connection, Boom, Bust & the
BLM showing the impacts of the BLM’s old growth clearcutting in S.
Oregon, and Exposing the Truth showing via Google Earth images how
little native forest is left in the Northwest. Of particular
significance, CRT felt, was their gift of The Lorax, a children’s book
by Dr. Seuss, in which a CEO cuts down an entire forest, and the
animals and people have to migrate elsewhere. CRT members explained in
their letter to the Governor, “At the end, a child is given one last
seed to plant and nurture in a pathetic attempt to bring back an
entire forest that was destroyed by over-consumption and short-term
greed. We hope that you will choose a different path than the CEO in
The Lorax, taking a stand to protect our ancient forests before there
is only one seed left. . . . If you stand against the WOPR, you will
not be alone; we will be standing with you. Then you can read The
Lorax to your grandchildren with pride about your positive legacy
rather than remorse for stealing something away from them.” The basket
also included a card signed by the Governor’s neighbors that urged him
to reject the WOPR. A disappointment to the advocates was outgoing
Secretary of State Bill Bradbury’s refusal to sign the card.
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2008/12/383535.shtml
Posted via email from Deane’s posterous