🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <01bc8cf1$109776a0$2c6bbace@kats.prcn.org>,
"Kathleen Brown" <kats@prcn.org> wrote:

> i guess i have been slack on keeping up with my province... - you know,
> greenpeace has to blame somebody... 
 
> personally, i am very offended by greenpeace's actions to boycott bc forest
> products...  that would put myself and all my staff out of work (i work in
> silviculture - i got into this end of the business to MAKE A DIFFERENCE )
> i am in no position to change policy, but i can definitely point out where
> things can be fixed...

What was the point of the blockade, anyway?  I don't keep up on Canada all
that closely, but I had heard that Canada had implemented new harvest
regulations on government land that were a lot more ecologically sensitive.
Is that not the case?
 
> | Regional culture.  Ya gotta love it.
 
>  sad, huh?

I don't think so.  I find it interesting that in many ways, inhabitants of
the PNW have more in common with each other than they do with people in 
their own countries in the big urban centers.  The land itself puts a stamp
on human culture in the area.  Maybe this was more apparent before Vancouver,
Seattle and Portland hit the big time, but I've had some really interesting
conversations with rural BC residents.

Wherever you go in the PNW, you find people who are passionate about the
land, and intimately involved in it.  In about two hours I'll be at the 
local courthouse for a workshop on how landowners can enhance coho salmon
runs.  We get vilified by press and protest, but we still *care* and, like
you and your silviculture, are interested in making a difference.

Organizations like Greenpeace need a little feedback once in a while is
all.  They're offending the locals, and they aren't going to accomplish
much without local support.  The locals just rubbed their nose in their
own mess, a uniquely PNW response that pops up every once in a while.
Hit the cafe's at 4:30 AM and you hear, "Paybacks are hell," along with
the howls of laughter.

Last year in Jacksonville, Oregon, Bonnie Raitt decided she was going to
have a zero-cut tree hugger benefit.  Her outdoor concert got serenaded
by about 400 chainsaws and several dozen circling log trucks with air
horns.  It was a big demonstration, but peaceful and good humored.  The
loggers were having a great time, and yes, everybody took the chains off
their saws before waving them around in public.  It's the exact same
response the woodworkers in Vancouver came up with.

So yeah, I really do love regional culture.  Those are my people on both
sides of that picket line.  I'm with the group over there laughing our heads
off to see a bunch of overstuffed windbags get deflated a bit.  They may
have some good points, but I'm not going to swallow all of it.  Meanwhile,
it's good for them to get their nose right down in reality for once.

-- Larry