June 12, 2004
Citizens Doing the Government's Job

The other day I took Dang, a photographer, on a hike to Kelsey Creek, one of the most magical, mossy, wonderlands around. On our way down to the creek, Dang and I noticed pink flagging around a large, ancient tree.

In timber sale areas it is common to see flags of various colors wrapped around trees. Each colored flag means something specific, from marking boundaries of a timber sale unit, to marking a survey area of some kind. These are normally put in place by the logging bureaucracy.

But this one was different. The flag read: "Red Tree Vole Nest- 5/16/03." This nest was found by a group of citizen surveyors, the Northwest Ecosystem Survey Team (NEST), concerned that the United States Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) aren't doing their best to protect endangered and sensitive species. Their suspicions are often correct.

Groups like NEST were formed all over the Northwest by forest activists, including treesitters, to "flag" endangered species habitat, a job that used to be required of the USFS and the BLM.

The story goes like this. The Northwest Forest Plan (NFP), passed in 1994, mandated the United States Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to survey for rare and sensitive species and manage to protect them. This year, however, the two provisions that at least afforded some protection for endangered and sensitive species were cut from the NFP, leaving species like the red tree vole susceptible to the whims of the USFS and BLM.

Even though groups like NEST have been formed for years, it is now critical for citizens to survey these areas, because the USFS and the BLM no longer have to.

That is why we're here.
To protect not only the trees, but all the other critters here, from tiny bugs and rare lichens, to unique and diverse plant species, red tree voles, bears,
mountain lions, . . .

Come and see for yourself and help us protect this forest.