Forest Under Siege

Gifford Pinchot, Chief of the United States Forest Service (USFS) from 1905 to 1910, marveled at the Cascades' old growth trees. Yet sadly, despite what its namesake championed, no current visitor to the Gifford Pinchot National Forest can see the forest he revered. Instead, by mid-century the USFS dramatically increased allowable timber industry logging for all national forests and began replacing ancient forests with younger, faster-growing trees--alarming changes that threatened the loss of these amazing northwest woodlands as well as some of the distinctive creatures that inhabit them. By 1990 less than thirteen percent of the Pacific Northwest's original old growth remained, and projected USFS plans were to log most of the unprotected remnant by 2023.Focusing primarily on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, environmental activist Rand Schenk reviewed numerous USFS reports and interviewed its leaders, timber war stakeholders, and prominent environmentalists to examine 100 years