Lane County: a paradise of universities, rivers, gorgeous forests draped in lichens, good social programs, etc. It’s also a place being swallowed up by clearcuts so fast it is making my head spin. 

Lately, the forest cover has been vanishing at an alarming rate and speed, and the clearcutting is the worst in the two decades I have been here. Someone please tell me: What is going on around here?

We are witnessing a large theft from the commons on a gargantuan scale. That this is occurring after last year’s fire season is nothing less than outlandish. The atrocities of the timber industry are on full display. The fact that no-spray petitions signed by nearly 20,000 people are held up from the ballot is a wake-up call like none other.

This is an all-hands-on-deck sort of time to stop the rampant spraying and cutting imperiling us all. We are blessed to have lynx, weasels, bald eagles and osprey populations living in and around neighborhoods and workplaces. Their populations are not compatible with the land practices allowed, and it takes our collective effort to stop them. 

Cascadia Wildlands, Oregon Wild and Community Rights Lane County are all working full tilt to mitigate what is happening. Please, in whatever ways you can, join this movement.

Kerstin Britz

Cottage Grove