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I currently work in and was born and raised in the forests of western Oregon. The old growth forests are close to my heart. In my opinion many members of the forestry industry and many forest policy workers could benefit from a broader and more long term perspective, as well as a reassessment of value. For all practical purposes the old growth forests are irreplaceable, at least in terms of the human lifespan, it takes many hundreds of years (or thousands in the case of virgin forests) to develop the ecological balance and complexity represented in an ancient forest. So the question I would pose is this. What is more valuable at this time in history, a relatively small amount of money, or an irreplaceable and ancient expression of nature? In my opinion money is cheap, especially from a global perspective, there is just so much of it, and the revenue generated from the removal of these forests would be practically imperceivable in the global economic context. Not only would the revenue be relatively small but there are so many different opportunities to produce revenue, and money is just money, it looks and performs the same no matter how it was obtained. But the ancient forests are becoming rare, and once you remove them they are gone for good, at least within the human timescale. It is my opinion that the remaining ancient forests are FAR more valuable to the human community as forests than any potential financial gains would be that were obtained through their removal.

posted 4 years, 6 months ago
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