Who says writing letters doesn’t work? Last fall
Okanogan National Forest in Washington received over 700 letters
protesting a draft environmental impact statement for the Granite
Mountain Roadless Area. As a result, forest officials dropped plans
to build at least 30 miles of new roads and log 15 million
board-feet of timber. Leaders of Methow Forest Watch, a grass-roots
organization begun in 1990, and based in Twisp, Wash., say its 700
Washington state members were instrumental in achieving the
turnaround. Methow Forest Watch members closely monitor roadless
areas in the Methow watershed. Only 450,000 acres representing 25
percent of the Okanogan National Forest remain roadless, and forest
officials have drafted a 10-year logging plan for these areas. For
more information about the group, which publishes a quarterly
newsletter, contact Methow Forest Watch, P.O. Box 473, Twisp, WA
98856 (509/997-9212).
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Northwest forest watchers.
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