19 May 2024 As We See It (ALC) Right!” To maintain that trust, we must continue to train our logging crews that there are two products that demand our full consideration: what we haul out of the forest, and the forest we leave behind. I’ll end with something else going right, maybe the most hopeful thing of all. John Buckley (representing the environmental community in our region) and I (representing the timber industry) fought through the California timber wars of the 1980’s and 90’s. John and I both had our voices, our pens, and our “people” who engaged in the battles with us. In California, Y2K ushered in drought, bark beetles, and catastrophic wildfires into our forests. As Sierra Nevada forests were being strangled to death from too many trees, vast swaths began to succumb to disease and burn right before our eyes. Our warring factions had an epiphany: We had better lay down our arms and figure out how this could be turned around before the forests both sides wanted to protect ended up being destroyed. In 2010, 30 different local and regional groups (including environmental groups, the timber industry (contractors, sawmills, associations), homeowner groups, recreational users, USFS, BLM, PG&E, and others) got together, checked our egos and pride at the door, and began a discussion that continues today. It centered on two key points: 1. We wanted to protect our forests for multiple uses. 2. Protection would require removal of excess trees and vegetation that fuel massive wildfires as well as the markets essential to process those materials. We got off to a slow start. It took four meetings to name the group. At one point I suggested “Collaboration Results in Analysis Paralysis.” The group did not like the acronym “CRAP.” We eventually settled on Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions, and “YSS” was born. In 2013, what we all feared the most happened: the Rim Fire. The Rim Fire burned 247,000 acres, 80,000 acres of it in Yosemite National Park. It threatened San Francisco’s water and power supply, which resulted in national attention. After the smoke settled, YSS went to work Continued →
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