Seeing the Forest

  The Siuslaw National Forest creates a prime environments for it's tree's to thrive. It also creates the perfect timber, which is what the forest used to be mainly used for. Environmentalists fought for reform. In an effort to increase the likelihood of the forests long-term survival the people responsible for it's care had to make some changes. They started by creating a "stakeholder, round table type" of meetings that eventually transformed into one common goal; the restoration of the salmon population within the Siuslaw. The Siuslaw Watershed Council created a place where all stakeholders with interest in the forest, environmentalists and timber companies included, could come to an agreement on the maintenance of the area. This change was so important because of the benefits to both the forest and humans alike.
This change in procedure did a number of different things;
-helped support characteristics of the thriving forest that used to be
-helped prevent destruction caused by storms
-helped create/fix it's aquatic environments for the salmon
-modern logging methods minimize the forest impact
-helps the local economy

I was impressed by the persons involved in these projects at their ability to find a solution that fits everyone's interests.