About three dozen people braved the rainy weather Saturday to gather on the sidewalk in front of Best Western on W Pullman Road. The protesters were in opposition to a new forest plan they argued would cause deforestation and endangerment to local wildlife.
The planned protest, organized by Friends of the Clearwater, a Moscow based non-profit organization, preceded the Nez Perce-Clearwater meeting on the forest plan, which took place at 3 p.m. in the Best Western Appaloosa Room.
Friends of the Clearwater are concerned the new plan will heavily log the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests — severely threatening watersheds, biodiversity and fish and wildlife habitat. The plan, proposed by Forest Service employees after years of research and involvement with the public, includes four management alternatives and a “no action” alternative based on the existing plan.
Katie Alexander, an activist with Palouse Democratic Socialists of America, said she came to the protest to fight for climate justice.
Angela Palermo | Argonaut
“A lot of us are here today because of white settler colonialism. We occupy a space — the Clearwater included — that has not been cared for in a way that is sustainable or constructive or in best interest of the people who resided there originally,” Alexander said.
One section of the revised plan emphasizes the potential economic viability of the area via timber, recreation, grazing and other industries.
Gary Macfarlane, a policy analyst for Friends of the Clearwater, is concerned the revised plan does not have measurable standards citizens can hold the Forest Service accountable to.
“The big problem in the plan is that every alternative, except for what’s called the existing condition, increases logging from the past average of the last 20 years, and some of them are massive increases,” Macfarlane said.
The National Forest Management Act requires all national forests to have a developed plan directing resource management and revise their plans every ten to fifteen-year cycle.
The existing plans for the Nez Perce and Clearwater National Forests were last completed in 1987. In 2013 management plans were combined for the two forests.
Cheryl Probert, the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests Supervisor, said that logging is just one of many tools they use to improve forest conditions.
“Some of our harvest is aimed at removing shade-tolerant species and planting Western White Pine and Ponderosa Pine that are more resilient to climate change,” Probert said.
Angela Palermo | Argonaut
Bill Beck, a concerned community member, participated in Saturday’s protest.
“We don’t want to see the forest plan give up the long-term intrinsic value of this wild land in the interest of profit for a few people,” Beck said.
The National Forest Service will continue to take comments from the public in response to the draft plan until April 20 of this year.
Angela Palermo can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @angelapalermo7