WALLY HERGER: “for more than 15 years, environmentalists and members of the forest products industry have waged war over managing…”

“for more than 15 years, environmentalists and members of the forest products industry have waged war over managing western forests, and like all wars this conflict has had its share of victims. The victims of the forest management debate include schools left with dramatically reduced funding. Twenty-five percent of all timber sales receipts are promised by mandate to fund local education and country road programs. When sales decline, so does education. Other victims are communities faced with extreme unemployment rates and an environment clogged with unhealthy forests. In 1993 Bill Coats, Plumas County supervisor from Quincy, CA, took up the challenge of breaking the gridlock over forest management. He did so by arranging a meeting with environmental attorney Michael Jackson and Sierra Pacific Industries forester Tom Nelson. They met in the library because they knew that there they would not be yelling at each other. The Quincy Library Group is now a coalition of 41 local environmentalists, forest product industry representatives, public officials, and concerned citizens who met each month at the Quincy Library to discuss ways to improve local forest health.”