| The people of the Oregon Department of Forestry
are not the bad guys. They are dedicated men and women who work hard caring for our forest
and fighting fires. And they don't decide by themselves what happens in places like The
Children's Forest. They have written and unwritten guidelines from our State government on
the need to make money by cutting trees. Actually, over the past number of years, they
have been paying more attention to ecological issues. But we think that The Children's Forest is a chance for them to do better. They need to look more carefully about saving the small amount of big trees they have left in the forest they manage, and doing more for the creatures that are dependent on those kinds of forests. But they can't make these changes all on our own. They need our help. We need to tell the governor and our State representatives that we want a change. We need an Oregon Dept. of Forestry that will look at all the forests in our state, whether they are private or managed by the State or Federal government, and try to get the whole picture of what has been happening to our forest in the past, and then help us find a better way for the future. In final analysis, this website is not about the Oregon Department of Forestry. It is about our forests with their great trees and their birds and animals which belong to our children's future. |