For too long, we foresters took the public for granted, assuming unwavering support for those who grow the nation’s wood fiber. Few noticed when the public’s mood changed, and those who did were often ridiculed by disbelieving colleagues. Now we come to a day of reckoning: the public believes forests are too important to be entrusted to foresters. To restore lost confidence, foresters must first come out of hiding. We have a lot of explaining to do because, where forests are concerned, the public will no longer support what it cannot see and understand. Regaining the public’s trust will take time. We must be prepared to answer hard questions about what we are doing and how our actions are impacting the environment. We must also help the public think through its forest management options. When we lay out these options, we must speak of much more than trees. Only then will our critics know we love forests as much as they do.

Dr. Alan Houston, Forester and Wildlife Biologist, Ames Plantation, Grand Junction, Tennessee, Evergreen, October, 1997

Environmentalism increasingly reflects urban perspectives. As people move to cities, they become infatuated with fantasies of land untouched by humans. This demographic shift is revealed through ongoing debates over endangered species, grazing, water rights, private property, mining and logging. And it is partly a healthy trend. But this urbanization of environmental values also signals the loss of a rural way of life and the disappearance of hands-on experience with nature. So the irony: as popular concern for preservation increases, public understanding about how to achieve it declines. 

Dr. Alston Chase, syndicated columnist and lecturer; author of “Playing God in Yellowstone” and “In A Dark Wood,” Evergreen, September 1990

Society has demonstrated an unwillingness to vest in scientists the final Authority to make the decisions that affect the rest of us. We insist that our non-scientific views be heard, that we whose lives are affected have the right to participate in the decision making and policy processes that flow from today’s scientific facts. The timber industry is going to have to share these forests with others that have different values and want different things from the forest. Frankly, I welcome it, and I rue the day when polarized factions no longer tear away at the fabric of our society. The American revolution is still going on. We are still changing, still learning. If some of us were not constantly tearing away at what others of us think we know, we would all still think the earth is flat. What is science today is witchcraft tomorrow.          

Leonard Netzorg, lawyer and legal scholar, Evergreen, July, 1991