WASHINGTON

A sea change in how federal judges view collaborative forest restoration is underway. The transformation is revealed in the anatomy of two recent rulings.

Wesley Moss Rickard is remembered. His contributions to forestry were groundbreaking in the work of building resilient forests.

A report on the current state of our forests in Washington, east of the cascades.

Mitch Friedman is the Founder and Executive Director of Conservation Northwest, a Seattle-based conservation group...In this interview, Friedman discusses Conservation Northwest's collaborative successes, still bothersome regrets from his Earth First years and his belief that collaboration offers the best hope for resolving still contentious issues concerning the management of the West’s National Forests.

If we choose wisely, relying on the mechanical thinning, prescribed fire and managed fire, we can still protect most of our remaining forest assets, including the soil and water. But over much of the Intermountain West, the forests in our future are not going to look much like the forests we've been enjoying for the last 60 or 70 years.

There is something unethical about allowing a person or a group that refused to participate in the collaborative planning of the project to file an appeal on the project.  The essence of collaboration means that you work through the issues within a project and help solve the problems.  Bring a solution, not litigation.

McGee discusses collaborative success. "As a direct result of all their hard work we have a pathway forward. We also have the science, tools, technologies and skill sets needed to move forward with the restoration work necessary to protect forests that are the cornerstones and building blocks of both our rural and urban lifestyles."

In forests that have traditionally supported timber economies, we can use ecological restoration strategies that rely on mechanical thinning and prescribed fire. Elsewhere, we advocate for managing wildfires at the right place and time – when conditions are right. Just as there is no simple answer to the good-fire bad-fire question, there is also no single approach to conserving the forested landscapes we all treasure.”

CLT is an engineered wood product. By that, I mean that it is a product assembled from pieces of lumber, usually two-by-sixes, eight feet wide, 40' feet long, layered at right angles to one another, like the layering of thinly sliced veneer used to make sheets of plywood. Picture a laminated wood beam, with the layers all running one direction. Now remind yourself that, in CLT, the layers run at right angles to one another, like plywood. The product is incredibly strong for its weight, which is about one-third that of steel. Some refer to CLT “plywood on steroids.” It’s a very apt description.

Commissioner Goldmark discusses his growing concerns for the rapidly deteriorating condition of national forests east of the Cascades, related economic and environmental impacts, and what might be done to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire in Washington's forests.

Strong partnerships are forming between federal and state resource management agencies, county governments, community leaders, conservationists, recreation interests and lumbermen, all in pursuit of a common and cohesive vision that, at the implementation level where we work, is already producing new and very exciting economic, environmental and social benefits.

The National Environmental Policy Act is the legal foundation on which all successful collaborations rest. You cannot saw this branch off the legal tree and expect that diverse forest stakeholder collaboratives built on trust and mutual respect will continue to prosper as citizen, project-based tools for resolving disagreements over how our national forests should be managed.

We humans possess extraordinary problem solving skills, and nature provides excellent templates to follow that light the way to a better future by providing real world solutions to complex problems.

In this interview, Rodney Smoldon discusses the use of innovative management tools to reduce the risk of wildfire in Northeast Washington.

In this interview, Kurtis Vaagen, Tribal Liason for Vaagen Brothers Lumber Company, discusses the potential for forest collaboration to replace litigation.

Gary Morishima discusses forest collaboration and his hopes for “Anchor Forestry,” a management concept that will allow forest landowners to work together.

In this interview, Jim Doran discusses the potential of forest collaboration in combating climate change.

In this interview, Ron Gray discusses the Northeast Washington Forest Coalition's commitment to the process of forest collaboration.

In this interview, Mark Teply discusses the use of forest collaboration in his work as Project Manager for the Mill Creek A to Z Project.

In this interview, Russ Vaagen, Vice President of Vaagen Brothers Lumber Company, discusses forest collaboration in Northeast Washington.

In this interview, Mike Petersen, Executive Director of the Spokane Lands Council, discusses why he embraced forest collaboration in Northeast Washington.

In this interview, Duane Vaagen, CEO of Vaagen Brothers, discusses how he came to support forest collaboration and its importance in overcoming litigation.