The relationship between foresters and conservationists, one which formed from a history of protest, disagreements, lawsuits, and legislation, is taking a turn as new and greater threats haunt forests in the Pacific Northwest. Urban sprawl and development force environmentalists to seek new means of conservation in the form of a partnership of necessity with an old time adversary: the timber industry.
"The tide has turned since foresters and conservationists worked against each other. We're entering a time now where you won't see, at least not as many, conservationists chaining themselves to trees to save the forest," said Molly Doran, executive director of Skagit Land Trust, emphasizing the surprising alliance between conservationists and the forestry industry.
Doran said the real threat to forests now is not the logging industry, but rather urban sprawl continually pushing boundaries into forests, wiping out both old and secondary growth forests. When Sierra Pacific Industries, based in Redding, Calif., purchased the nearly 147,000 acres in upper Skagit Valley and around the Nooksack Watershed, Doran breathed a sigh of relief. Sierra Pacific purchased the land out of bankruptcy from Cascade Timberlands LLC with plans to build a small-woods mill in Burlington, Wash.
The Washington chapter of The Nature Conservancy also bid on the land, Communications Director Leslie Brown said. Their plan was to conserve much of the land around the Skagit River and other stream beds, and to partner with a timber company and open some of the land for sustainable, light forestry.
Brown said the conservancy was interested in the land because of the importance of the Skagit River and all five species of native Pacific salmon that rely on the river.
"You can try to protect a river," Brown said. "But if there's not conservation upland of the river, it really isn't protected at all."
She said although it isn't the ideal use of the land, forestry is better than development.
"When a forest is purchased for a logging industry, it's still in their best interest to maintain a healthy forest," Doran said, pointing to a map of Skagit County and the surrounding wilderness. "Sprawl is forever, and trees don't really like concrete."
A thin green line on the map represents the area of old growth, surrounded on one side by encroaching city roads and structures represented by orange and yellow shapes. On the other side of the old growth area is a vast light green line representing second growth forests.
"Regulations on buildings and such work for now, but they aren't going to work forever," Doran said, referring to the constant threat of builders wanting to build out in the woods and expand the red and yellow on the map.
Much of the land Sierra Pacific purchased was a part of Crown Pacific's Hamilton Tree Farm, and won't be ready for harvesting for some time, said Ed Bond, Sierra Pacific public relations officer.
"This is a long-term investment for us," Bond said. "We won't be able to harvest the land for another 20, 30 or 40 years."
Mitch Friedman, executive director of Conservation Northwest, said Crown Pacific was in over its head in debt, and had over-cut the forests without allowing adequate growth in order to profit.
Friedman said he was not worried about species in the area Sierra Pacific purchased because wildlife living in second growth forests is fairly abundant. He said the Nooksack Elk herd would probably reside there in the summer, requiring older growth for the winters. He said the dead wood remaining after clear-cutting provides habitat for small animals.
A large amount of the wood coming to feed Sierra Pacific's new mill will come from Canada, federal lands and private landowners, said Tom Nelson, Hamilton district manager and forester for the company.
Some of the old mills in coastal Canada are old and inefficient Friedman said.
"They're probably pretty unhappy about the wood from their coastal rainforest being shipped past the mills in British Columbia down here," he said.
Approximately 10 percent of Sierra Pacific's land is currently harvestable, Nelson said. In the next 30 to 40 years the land will produce a marketable amount. About 20,000 of the 147,000 acres can't be harvested because they are stream buffers or landslide areas, he said.
When Sierra Pacific begins harvesting, Bond said the company will follow strict environmental standards from the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), an initiative other private landowners in the industry created.
According to Sierra Pacific's Web site, their commitment to the initiative demonstrates a stewardship ethic on lands they own.
But George Draffan, author of "A Profile of Sierra Pacific Industries," said SFI certifies virtually every timber company in the country.
"That should tell you something right there," Draffan said.
He said in the beginning there was hope the initiative would mean less work for environmentalists, but it has turned into an easy way for companies to claim environmental stewardship without much regulation.
"Don't Buy SFI" is a Web site exposing the faults of an environmental initiative composed by its own industry. The Web site also gives new meaning to the letters SFI: "Same Old Forestry Initiative."
A 10-page "Hall of Shame" shows photographs of vast areas of clear-cuts, some of old growth Redwoods in California on land which is certified by the initiative. One picture on the first page is of Sierra Pacific's clear-cut above Beardsley Reservoir in Tuolumne County, Calif.
Doran said she sees a small problem with Sierra Pacific following their own standards, but said she thinks other programs are not much different and a slew of conservation groups will be keeping an eye on them.
Clear-cutting is Sierra Pacific's main method of cutting woods, Nelson said.
"It's the proper way to do it," he said. "After a clear-cut, the forest regenerates the same way that it would after something like a forest fire."
Nelson also said clear-cutting helps to prevent big forest fires.
In his article, Draffan wrote that he considers this argument ironic, because the method doesn't allow for old growth, and because logging operations cause the most damaging forest fires.
Sierra Pacific is focusing on their new cogeneration mill in Burlington. The mill is modern, extremely efficient and clean running, said Robert "Butch" Bernhardt, director of information services for Western Wood Products Association. It will be their second mill in Washington; the other is located in Aberdeen.
Between the two mills and the purchase of the Hamilton Tree Farm, Nelson said Sierra Pacific invested about $400 million dollars in Washington.
Bernhardt said the entire forestry industry recently modernized, with the addition of computerized scanning systems, which determine the most efficient cut of the log.
"The most important decision you make is often the first cut you make on a log," Bernhardt said. "It's really easy to fall behind in the industry without all of the technical advances that make the mills run so much more efficiently."
Sierra Pacific's mill in Burlington will not only have these computer advances, but will create approximately 30 megawatts of its own energy by burning the bark and other excess from the trees, said Curt Adcock, division manager in Burlington.
Adcock said only one-third of this energy will be used on site, and the rest will be sold back to the power grid, which could power approximately 13,000 homes continuously.
"We utilize 100 percent of the logs that come in," Adcock said.
Wood that used to be considered waste is cut into woodchips and sold to the paper industry, Bond said.
"You won't see the same kind of mills that your grandfather saw, with black smoke billowing from the top," Bond said.
In fact, the only visible emission from the Burlington mill will be steam from the wood drying kiln, he said.
Emissions from the plant are regulated by an electro-static precipitator. Workers dispose the ash and other particles, Nelson said.
The plant, located east of Burlington on 144-acres off of Farm-to-Market Road began operation on Oct. 23. Sixty-seven employees began testing and training on the new equipment. The cogeneration plant is still under construction but should be finished by the end of this year, Adcock said.
At full capacity, the mill will employ approximately 230 people who will make an average of $18 per hour and will receive full benefits.
While this new partnership places both industries on even ground, the future of the forests remains unknown. Old growth forests are slowly disappearing with little hope of renewal in the future. The restrictions on urban sprawl and growth are not going to work forever to protect forests surrounding Whatcom and Skagit County. The question is whether forestry is really the best alternative.