Growing opportunities
Loggers need steady work, but the practices of forestry-as-usual haven't managed to provide it. In towns like Reedsport, OR, and Fort Bragg, CA, the major mills have shut down because the forests were cut faster than they could grow back. In fact, the same year Louisiana-Pacific sold off the lands that kept the Fort Bragg mill running, they announced plans to build a new plant in Chile. But townspeople want jobs they can count on, and FSC certification guarantees it. Steady work is one of the criteria that qualify a forest for FSC approval. Certified operations like the forestry division of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs provide work to hundreds of locals -- including more than 300 people out of the 3,300 men, women and children who live on the reservation -- in part because they continue to log conservatively, taking less than the forest grows each year.
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