By Kathryn Fernholz,
President, Dovetail Partners,
Minneapolis, MN
www.dovetailinc.org
I have been an environmentalist my whole life. I was raised on a certified organic farm in the Midwest, hearing cutting-edge conversations around the kitchen table about soils, carbon, and microbes long before these were household concerns. Further, I have been a forester for more than 22 years, spending most of my career in the nonprofit sector. I am excited by the thoughtful leadership of environmental advocates.
Tension over harvesting trees started long ago and remains an issue. This has been exacerbated recently by the discussion of lumber prices, climate change, and consumption demand. Over the years, one of the constant phrases in our debates is “we need to protect forests.” I heard this phrase again recently, and this time, it lingered, reverberating in my thoughts. Then I asked myself, “What do we need to protect forests from?” And the answer came: People. The assumption in the arguments is that we need to protect forests from people.
I find this answer heartbreaking, and in talking with others, I know I’m not the only one who hears it this way. It makes me afraid that many of us—foresters, environmentalists, landowners, recreationalists, and many others—believe that people, you and me, our friends and neighbors, business owners, and others, are a threat, even the greatest threat, to forests.
So, let me say this: Forests don’t need to be protected from people per se. Measures are in place to guard forests from unsustainable harvest. Right now, more people need to take more action to save forests from the effects of climate change: catastrophic wildfires, saltwater intrusion, and rising tides, 500-year storms that happen every year.
To safeguard forests from real and immediate threats, forests need people and people need forests both in ways that are familiar to us and in ways that we will discover as we move forward together. Forests offers gifts of unimaginable beauty, strength, and wonder that belong throughout our lives—in our homes, in our traditions, and in our hearts. Foresters and the many who partner with us are in the best position to protect forests and are already engaged and dedicated to this work.
A belief that the forest must be defended from people is, in fact, harmful. It focuses on people instead of a system that is so much greater in its design and expression. At the same time, it separates people from the world that contains us. Let us acknowledge, deeply learn from, and, yes, forgive periods of exploitation within our history with forests. Let us embrace and celebrate our forest connections with humble and gracious hearts. And let us believe and act with the intention that forests can and should be protected by our stewardship, not protected from us.
Learn more at www.dovetailinc.org.
