Coast Range Radio interviews Chuck Willer on how to build equitable rural forest economies in Western Oregon. Chuck describes how social benefit and community centered forest solutions can revitalize rural Oregon communities and economies. Chuck’s vision and analysis comes from 30 years of work addressing the underlying causes of social and environmental problems in Western Oregon. To learn more and support this work visit www.coastrange.org.

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This episode is an edited broadcast of a presentation given to the Pacific Northwest Forest Climate Alliance by Dr. Dominick DellaSala. DellaSala is the Chief Scientist at Wild Heritage, a project of Earth Island Institute, and former President of the Society for Conservation Biology, North America Section. He is an internationally renowned author of over 200 science papers on forest and fire ecology, conservation biology, endangered species management, and landscape ecology.

DellaSala describes the nuts and bolts of forest carbon accounting, the importance of mature and old-growth forests as carbon reserves, his most recent US primary forest mapping research, and the unique carbon and biodiverse characteristics of the Tongass Rainforest.

To learn more and take action, visit the multi-stakeholder campaign page for protecting US mature and old-growth forests as a cornerstone of US climate policy.

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Andrew interviews Bob Sallinger, Conservation Director at Portland Audubon, on the history and current conservation efforts for the Elliott State Forest in Oregon. Bob details the public process over the past three years to separate the Elliott State Forest from the Common School Fund and turn the Elliott State Forest into a publicly owned research forest. Learn more here. 2022 is a turning point for the Elliott State Forest, and there is a bill in the Oregon 2022 short session that makes this transition possible. Learn more about the bill here.

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Andrew interviews Deb Fant. Deb is a retired nurse and 30 year Oregon resident. She is a leader at Lincoln County Community Rights and was actively engaged in the work to enact the Lincoln County Aerial Spray Ban in 2017.

We discuss the history of this local aerial spray ban, the work of Lincoln County Community Rights, the challenge to the overturned ban in the Oregon Supreme Court in 2021, and her work to build a broad network in Oregon to protect community rights and the rights of nature.

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Sam Krop and Andrew interview Dr. Betsy Herbert, an environmental scientist and published author who has expertise in researching how forest management impacts drinking water. She is also an active volunteer for North Coast Communities for Watershed Protection and Forest Waters Watch. 

Betsy describes how she started in this work, the importance of forests for providing quality drinking water and what is happening in Oregon drinking watersheds that are dominated by short rotation industrial forestry. Betsy also provides nine excellent examples of policy changes to Oregon’s Forest Practices Act that would increase protections for drinking water.

You can get involved by providing public comment that asks for increased protection for drinking water coming off Western Oregon State Forests through the Department of Forestry’s Companion Western Oregon State Forest Management Plan and Implementation Plans project.

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Andrew interviews Dr. Melissa Ward, PhD post-doctoral researcher working out of San Diego State University, and Ryan Hasert, public policy analysis graduate student at Oregon State University. They are part of the research project “Assessing Community Vulnerability to Ocean Acidification Across the California Current Ecosystem”. 

The project looks at Ocean Acidification on the West Coast and specifically the impacts and adaptive capacity strategies employed by shellfish farmers and other shellfish fisheries. We learn about Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia, the impacts to coastal communities and ecosystems and important policy opportunities.

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Andrew interviews Andrew Bogrand, volunteer Communications Director for the Divest Oregon Campaign. Andrew is a human rights campaigner and policy advocate who supports nonprofits, coalitions, and communities fighting injustice.

They discuss why a diverse coalition of Oregonians have come together to demand the Oregon Treasury, managing $120 Billion in investments, divest from the climate warming fossil fuel industry. Andrew provides great economic and environmental justice arguments for why the state should divest from fossil fuels. He then provides details on opportunities for individuals and organizations to get involved in the campaign.

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Sam and Andrew interview Rita Frost, Campaigns Director at the Dogwood Alliance. The Dogwood Alliance advances environmental justice and climate action by mobilizing diverse voices to protect southern forests and communities from industrial logging. 

Rita outlines the threats of biomass as a false climate solution that threatens southern forests and the importance of bringing communities most impacted by industrial logging to the decision making table. The conversation then turns to the importance of ensuring environmental justice and forest protection as key components to a holistic response to the climate crisis.

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Andrew interviews award winning and prolific author, essayist, and commentator Robert Leo Heilman from Myrtle Creek, Oregon. Bob is the author of several books including Overstory Zero: Real Life in Timber Country, Children of Death, and The World Pool: A Literary Variety. He has also been a prolific contributor to guest columns in the News Review in Roseburg. 

Bob has recently been the target of violence for his recent writings in his local paper that call out rightwing extremism. We discuss the duty Bob feels as a writer to speak openly about the dangers of the extremism and fear he sees in his community. Bob describes the changes he's seen living in Myrtle Creek for over four decades and the impacts of declining material living conditions on rural people and communities.

Find his book Overstory Zero: Real Life in Timber Country to read his direct experience living in timber country.

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In part two, we continue our conversation with Levi Van Sant (@LeviVanSant), an Assistant Professor at George Mason University in Fairfax County Virginia whose work focuses on environmental (in)justice, particularly issues surrounding food, agriculture, and land use. 

Levi wrote a formative piece in Dissent on Land Reform and the Green New Deal that influenced the Coast Range Association’s recent Climate & Oregon’s Industrial Forests: A Green New Proposal. In this episode, Andrew and Levi discuss alternative land ownership models such as Frannie Lou Hamer's Freedom Farm Cooperative and the history of colonization in the U.S. and indigenous calls for land back and how it relates to this conversation on land reform.

Resource Links:

https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/land-reform-and-the-green-new-deal

http://therednation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Red-Deal_Part-I_End-The-Occupation-1.pdf

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/fannie-lou-hamer-freedom-farm-cooperative

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