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We’d Better Be Careful
"The Truth About Timber"
Ignorance is not an innocent condition.
People use it to make bad decisions and when they catch up to us become excuses with devastating outcomes.
Oregon is a timber producing state, it always has been and if we are to truly have affordable housing or any housing at all, timber production needs to continue to be part of our DNA.
But some ignorant new rules are in the pipeline that sound good to the uneducated but if they pass unchallenged will devastate Oregon’s economy and much more.
We are in Oregon working on a project to tell the other side of the off-balance narrative polluting the conversation.
The inconsistencies from the environmental community, that plague the industry, are not just unfair, they are inconsistent and inaccurate.
The problem is, Oregon is in a state of ignorance.
We don’t look at the big picture but focus on how we feel and what “seems” right or wrong.
Years ago I covered the Spotted Owl debate.
The industry was almost destroyed over protection of the owl.
Then we learned it was another owl destroying the spotted owl but that information was buried on the back pages and never really got told.
Land was set aside to protect the bird.
Leaving the land alone sounded so good, let mother nature take its course.
Two years ago, she did and much of the land set aside for the owl was destroyed by fire because it wasn’t managed properly, another story that doesn’t get told.
We desperately need affordable housing yet more rules, wider stream buffers and less available timber drives prices up.
Ignorance is not an excuse.
Doing something because it feels good doesn’t get us off the hook.
I asked a young man who works in video production to help me with a story on the industry one time and he refused because he doesn’t like what they do.
As he walked away and into his wood-framed house I wanted to laugh.
You don’t like what they do, you don’t know what they do or why they do it.
But you sure enjoy living in a stick built home.
You can’t have it both ways.
That is the hypocrisy and ignorance we intend to examine through the eyes and stories of people in the industry.
The rules and regulations coming down the pike will not only fail to protect
endangered species but will devastate an industry Oregon desperately needs to protect as well.
Welcome to the journey for the truth.
Here in Montana there is perhaps the high level of ignorance spoke about here. Going back as a participant of the Great Northwest Log Haul and other efforts to curb the attack on the timber industry we found complacency bred delusion which resulted in everyone going back to accepting the status quo. Without infrastructure in place there are no jobs for loggers and there are no sticks to build homes.
Our daughter lives in Colorado and the people in their small community have started building homes from mud.. Sounds strange but it’s very unique. Prices for lumber are so high they can’t afford a stick built house. If we fall a tree on our place, not one piece of it goes to waste. Looking forward to your show about this topic.
There is a great deal of, "this is how I feel, don't bother me the facts" out there. It is hard for folks to say " I was wrong" because of pride. There is a lot of prejudice against the industry and bad science out there. There is a failure to recognize new technologies and that this isn't your Grandfathers industry. There are many opposing environmental groups, each with their own views and agendas for a complex ecosystem.........and all of that is difficult to overcome. To coin a phrase, sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees and the industry is caught in the middle of it all. - M