Forests for Climate Resilience Hosts a Public Direct Action Camp in Mt Hood National Forest September 4-9, 2019

ESTACADA, OR. – Concerned climate advocates are hosting a public direct action camp on Mt. Hood to draw attention to the connection between Oregon’s forests and their role in curbing climate change. The camp is open to the public and will take place from Wednesday, Spetember 4 –  Monday, September 9.

Who is hosting the camp?
Forests for Climate Resilience (FCR) is a newly-formed forest defense group in the Pacific Northwest. We recognize the vital role of healthy forests as ecosystems resilient to wildfire, drought, and other effects of climate change. We need to protect and restore our forests for carbon sequestration and climate resilience, as well as for wildlife habitat, and clean water and air. Protecting and restoring critically vital forest ecosystems is the single most important regional priority to address the global climate emergency. But timber barons and the Trump administration are ramping up destructive industrial logging of old growth. We’re building a movement to stop them. Our action camp will be a training ground for new activists to learn from seasoned campaigners.

Why are forests so important?
Mature trees and intact ecosystems remove carbon from the air and store it in the soil at a marvelous rate. Industrial logging severely damages the soil and causes rapid decay of branches and waste products, releasing the large majority of carbon the forest has previously stored. The carbon emissions from logging are ten times greater than forest fires and bark beetles combined. The science on this is clear.

Massive logging projects, such as the 11,700 acre timber sale in Mt. Hood National Forest, called Crystal Clear, are damaging and regressive. This sale, the largest local project in a generation, includes 3,000 acres of mature and old-growth forests. It will destroy carbon sinks, habitats, and waterways, while releasing harmful greenhouse gas emissions. The logging industry is Oregon’s highest contributor of carbon emissions. Improvements in forest practices, including a complete end to logging old-growth and mature forests, are the single most important move we, the people, can make in our bioregion.

Many local groups are fighting Crystal Clear in the courts, but the industrial logging machine is moving in and building roads. It is up to us to stop them: people aware of the stakes, and committed to a survivable future.

The action camp will be a space of movement-building for coordinated, effective, and passionate action for climate resilience. We are committed to anti-oppressive, anti-racist, and intentionally inclusive practices and will be offering trainings rooted in justice and accountability. The camp will be held on the ancestral lands of many indigenous groups, including the Tenino/Warm Springs and Molalla. The timber sale is on national forest land adjacent to the Warm Springs reservation.

Contact us to get involved and to receive directions and information about the camp and our organization.  Forest defense is climate defense!

Join us to build the movement for climate activism, learn from the stories and experiences of others, and protect the forests, our greatest resource against climate change!

**For more information please contact: 971-275-0713 or email crystalclearlywrong@riseup.net

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