The labor
community has been an active participant in the
collaborative group from its inception three years ago.
In the past, the Cowlitz Valley had a large community
of union mill workers. However, these family wage jobs
have largely disappeared from the Valley. In Morton,
a small town tucked in the Cowlitz Valley, the remaining
mill's union was dissolved several years ago. Labor
interests recognize the critical dearth of family wage
jobs in the Cowlitz Valley and are working with the collaborative
group to address this need.
The Cowlitz
Tribe is involved in the collaborative group because
the Gifford Pinchot National Forest encompasses much
of the tribe's historic homelands. The tribe is concerned
about the health of the watersheds and is also searching
for ways to provide stable opportunities to tribal members
that allow them to continue to live and work on their
traditional lands.
Community
residents of the Cowlitz Valley are involved in
the collaborative group because their towns are slowly
eroding and their way of life is at risk of disappearing.
Residents are painfully aware of the dearth of family
wage jobs AND are interested in finding ways to put people
back to work in the woods.
The timber
industry is involved in the collaborative group
because it is looking for ways to increase the volume
of harvest on the forest.
Conservationists are involved
because they believe the group represents an exciting
new way of getting restoration work accomplished in the
forest while healing old scars and creating a lasting
legacy for future generations and land managers.
Community based forestry
experts are involved in the collaborative so the
Partners can benefit from the experience and learning
of similar projects in other communities.
Finally, the
Forest Service has been very supportive of the
collaborative group and the work it is pursuing on the
Gifford Pinchot National Forest . They Forest Service
has a clear interest in supporting the development of
a common ground agenda that leads away from gridlock
and toward work being implemented on the ground
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