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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels June 30, 2004 Greenpeace education helpful About 70 people camped out in the Kelsey Whiskey with Greenpeace folk and local forest activists in this final weekend of the Forest Rescue Station. Families with babes in arms and energetic youth hiked the jeopardized Old-Growth forest. The educational and fun-filled weekend featured workshops for adults on ground-checking timber sales, forest protection skills and tree climbing. Greenpeace were hard-working hosts, cooking tasty vegetarian meals for all and maintaining a clean and healthy camp. The kids created a banner that Greenpeace will deliver to children in the Tonga forest of Alaska. Oregon children chose the slogan "Our Forests are not for Sale!" as their message. A local birder treated children to a nature talk brought to life with special forest finds. We hiked the roadless area, admiring the ancient trees with bark covered in lichen, like fur left by a mythical green beast. One Douglas fir the BLM plans to cut measured 65" in diameter. This steep roadless area of Old-Growth trees would be decimated, leaving only 8 trees per acre. Greenpeace has indeed shone the international spotlight on this pristine roadless area. Many children practiced tree-climbing skills with a generous couple of arborists from New Zealand. In the forest protection skills workshop, I sat next to a young woman visiting from Sweden. She delighted "in seeing this side of America," and I felt our presence in the forest as a balm for the negative view that surely many people in Sweden hold toward our country. A diverse group roasted marshmallows around the campfire and heard tales from successful forest defense campaigns. As I sat around the fire, I felt grateful to Greenpeace for backing the dedicated local activists who have worked for years to protect this region. Hiking and camping in that forest made me fall in love - with the trees and the dedicated people who are passionate enough to survey, monitor, educate, litigate, and ultimately put their bodies between the chainsaws and the trees. At a closing ritual, we built a mandala of lichen, stones and pinecones around a tiny fir sapling. We stated our gratitude and our intentions to defend the Kelsey Whiskey and the Biscuit. One father expressed his thanks that his seven year-old daughter could get to know such diverse people, learn about the forest and play freely and safely among the ancient trees. Back home in Ashland last night, my son laid his head on the pillow and said, "I close my eyes, and I see the steep slopes and the big trees. The forest is in my head." I reckon it's in his heart, too. Shelley Elkovich Ashland DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams