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THE FOREST
Demetrios Nichols
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When the woodsman carried the ax into
the forest, the trees whispered among themselves, "Look, the handle is one of
us!"
The world view of one hundred years ago was formulated to a great extent by the commonly
held myth that every act of man, whether societal, scientific or economic, was part of a
great evolutionary uplift for the human race. This uplift concept was founded upon the
popular belief in mankind's ever increasing intellectual capacities and a profound
scientific pride in unraveling the great mysteries of the time. Today, at the last moments
of the 20th century, those who are concerned about the human race must now look closely at
each component of every act and proclamation of current social and scientific thinking in
the chilling context of the short and long term viability of our species. In one hundred
short years we have gone from a future full of promise and limitless resources, to a
present that is rapidly degrading ecologically and leading mankind into the terrible
abyss. Inevitable conflict over shrinking global resources is likely to manifest.
The bold vision of limitless expansion, and impudent resource management lingered well
into the later part of this century. Television not only encouraged a whole generation to
consume more (and consequently squander more) but also proclaimed that it was mankind's
manifest destiny to reach beyond his planet and conquer the whole universe, to
"boldly go where no man has gone." This journey was to be guided by science,
sustained by limitless fuel reserves and directed by artificial intelligence. All the
equations failed to take into account the limitations of our physical biology.
As we prepare to walk through the door into the 21st century, it is our biology that has
risen to the forefront of social and scientific concern. The old paradigms that encouraged
evolution at the expense of conservation have failed. The great challenge staring
immediately at us is how to reassess and redefine our sense of community. We must do this
not only to secure a sustainable standard of living, but to define one that is also in
harmony with the natural rhythms and unfolding cosmic expressions inherent in the world
around us. For mankind to prevail it is imperative to envision a world where matter and
spirit flourish.
It is recognition of this necessity for a broader and more responsible community vision
that is currently motivating concern over locally proposed logging operations. To a very
large extent, the policy, procedures and ethics being challenged are the residue of
practices established in the last century when lumber was king and it's queen was
political power. Many of the current forestry morals and techniques were established in
the distant past when logging was an elite and powerful industry held accountable to no
one. Not surprisingly, this position of ultimate authority has been silently carried
forward into the present.
Until such time as there is wider acceptance of alternative resources to timber, both by
the consumer, the builder and the local county building departments, timber will of
necessity, remain an industry. Therefore, given the current need, it is an undeniable fact
that reasonable logging practices must continue. But the key word here is
"reasonable." Conscientiously evaluating an intact or recuperated forest
ecosystem in careful conjunction with the short and long-term biological, societal and
moral issues associated with tree removal is reasonable. Wantonly cutting down a 2000 year
old living organism so that it can be sliced and diced into deck boards and fencing
material for purchase at a local discount building supplier is not.
It is tempting to dehumanize those involved in the logging industry as testosterone crazed
bandits whose greatest thrill is the sound of a falling tree. What is harder to accept is
that this type of behavior is the manifested end result of someone who may not have enough
passion in their heart to perceive the glories, enigmas and sacred harmonies found in the
soul of the forest. It is a great tragedy that human beings have not yet come to
understand that there is a subtle, but profound connection between the vast scale of the
Universe and the existence of the organism observing it. The men who are trapped in the
economic entanglement of logging ultimately will need lots of compassion to heal the
wounds surely to be found in the recesses of their souls.
In the emotionally charged logging crises of the moment it is important not to lose track
of the simple fact that we are all living organisms immersed in a highly complex
interrelationship about which we still know very little. The question before us should not
be merely how to reduce the impact of logging with regards to slide zones, red-legged
frogs, habitat impact and property values. The question should be how does this practice
affect our larger community. This community is not defined by the boundaries of a
neighborhood, a county or a state. Nor is it a community defined by social and economic
standings. It is a community which extends far beyond the ends of driveways and deep into
the mystery of trees and forests.
As a community, we respond to logging issues not simply because of the immediate hazards
such practices pose to homes, environment and established species habitats. The real
threat is to what we revere. The real issue is how to protect and respect the
bio-diversity of the greater community called Earth . The unassailable truth that cannot
be challenged is that there is no science, there is no consciousness, indeed, there is no
life without biology. I am not referring here to the reductionist textbook science of
biology, but to the living presence that emerges at the confluence of molecular
consciousness and time.
A forest is a complex assemblage of organic events whose interconnectedness, interaction
and diversity is controlled by environmental stability over a long period. The longer the
stability, the greater the diversity. Though nature has successfully governed forest
development over the millennia, twentieth century man has determined that, in order to be
healthy, forests need management. Unfortunately, the rules governing modern "forestry
management" are overly simplistic, not frequently enforced, and often fail to address
the effect artificial management imposes on an extraordinarily complex but little
understood organism.
Like management in other industries, forestry management has a primary function, and that
is to encourage logging. Since this has not always been a popular endeavor, the language
used to describe logging applications has been carefully designed to psychologically
reduce public resistance toward the methods employed in realizing the objectives. The use
of mechanical and agricultural terminology to define logging strategies is an attempt to
verbally minimize the anticipated impact, much in the same way the military uses
euphemisms such as "collateral damage" to mask the fact that innocent civilians
are often the casualties of war. The motive behind the words is to seduce the public into
believing that logging is something natural, common, controllable, without lasting impact
and healthy for the impacted forest. Timber Harvest Plans (THP's), as required to be filed
with the California Department of Forestry, are rife with language and acronyms that are
vague, hard to understand and abstract enough to leave plenty of wiggle room for the
applicants. These reports are biased toward logging enterprises, frequently are not
adequately enforced and ultimately fail to address the most important issue behind the
report, which is motive. More to the point, the issue is profit. Nowhere in a Timber
Harvest Report is the impact to a community assessed against the value of the take of the
trees. Extra-rational matters such as might be associated with a community's sense of
spirit or reverence for a place is avoided entirely.
Attempting to evaluate the "harvest area" of an intact ecosystem by
compartmentalizing the individual parts as Timber Harvest Plans do, is simply absurd. This
point is most easily understood by drawing a comparison to our own bodies. We know that
our organic form is a fantastically intricate compilation of an incomprehensible number of
individual cells united together by neural receptors which pulsate electrically in order
to exchange genetic codes which govern the mechanics of our survival. We also know that
all this chemistry takes place under the regulation of something called genes circulating
in the cosmic soup of our bodies. But no matter how we consider the individual physical or
biological components, no matter how we slice up the molecular modules, we do not know
what governs the emergence of a higher order of consciousness capable of penning such
phrases as "To be or not to be, that is the question". In much the same way, we
still don't fully understand, nor can we yet evaluate the contribution healthy, intact,
undisturbed forests make to the physical, emotional and spiritual health of our species
and our community.
The challenges, both immediate and long term, are enormous. We must endeavor to find a new
common ground where responsible timber industry needs and legitimate community concerns
can work together for mutually attainable goals and objectives. History and time have made
us trustees of the future. Are we worthy of this trust? Perhaps that is the ultimate
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