Timber mill, conservationists work to find common ground

Press Release

18 October 2005

For Immediate Release

For more information contact:
Peter Griessmann
Stevens County Conservation District
232 Williams Lake Rd, Colville , WA 99114
509-685-0937 x118
pgriessmann@co.stevens.wa.us or lrdunton@centurytel.net

Timber mill, conservationists work to find common ground

Three years ago, Duane Vaagen and Tim Coleman were at opposite sides of a debate over logging in national forests. Vaagen blamed Coleman’s conservation group for the closure of his Republic mill, and Coleman blamed Vaagen for logging sensitive wildlife habitat.

Three years later, the two have not only set aside their differences, but they are working together to design timber sales and protect wildlife habitat in the Colville National Forest. Both have been working through the Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition to break the deadlock over public forest management practices.

This Tuesday in Spokane the Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition will be announcing a new collaborative effort to identify a forest management plan for the Colville National Forest that involves sustainable forestry, including landscape-level stewardship projects, restoration priorities, and recommendations for wilderness.

The Northeast Forestry Coalition has brought mill owners, loggers, private landowners, the environmental community, local government, educators, and citizens at large to the same table with the Forest Service and the WA DNR in order to work with one another in collaboration on issues within the Colville National Forest.