As residents of Mason County, WA and our supporters, we urge you to take action for our shared forests, for our shared water, for future generations, and for a world in which all life can thrive in balance with one another.

We are the Lorax Coalition. We envision a future in which:
- Our great-great-great grandchildren enjoy the same natural abundance that our great-great-great grandparents experienced.
- Biodiversity thrives, and the salmon runs are restored.
- Forests once again grow to be 1,000+ years old.
- Our soils and ecosystems are healthy enough to withstand the coming climate crisis.
- Our values and actions are focused on what really matters: connection, clean air and water, healthy food and medicines, safe shelter, and the continuation of life.
- We have transitioned to a circular economy. No one takes more than they need, and the only “waste products” become nutrients for something else to grow.
- Everyone’s needs are met. All people have the opportunity for meaningful, non-exploitative, and safe work. All forms of life thrive in balance with one another.

To achieve this future, we need to regenerate and protect intact, healthy, old-growth forests.

Trees are the original teachers of the original people of this land, who are still here today passing on that knowledge.(1)

Healthy forests have healthy soil carbon sponges, which means that they can absorb more water in the soil.(2) This extra water reduces wildfires, floods, droughts, and landslides, putting us in a better position to withstand the coming climate crisis. Furthermore, healthy forests stabilize local temperatures, cool landscapes, and sequester carbon, mitigating climate change. Independent scientific research consistently shows that older forests, larger trees, and their interconnected living root systems sequester more carbon than younger trees and newer forests.(3)

Everything we need for life depends on our forests: Wildlife depend on biodiverse forests for their homes. Salmon runs depend on intact forested riparian zones. Our water depends on the health of our forests, which provide the biotic pump needed to jumpstart the water cycle.(4,5,6) Even human health and happiness depend on biodiverse, intact forests.(7)

Furthermore, our community's economy depends on healthy ecosystems for tourism, traditional fishing/hunting/gathering, and healthy trees for forest products.

Current forestry and land management practices are a threat to all life. We risk desertification, economic collapse, ecosystem collapse, climate chaos, and salmon extinction unless we come together as a community to make a change.(8,9)

For too many generations, our shared forests have been cyclically clearcut, covered with biocides, replanted in monoculture plantations, and never allowed to regrow back into the healthy, aged, biodiverse abundance that traditionally supported all life.

Today, this cycle of destruction in the name of profits is speeding up even as salmon runs are failing, wildfire seasons are lengthening, and extreme weather events are increasing due to the extractive economy-driven climate crisis.

Another way is possible.

We—youth and elders; renters, homeowners, and houseless people; people who have been here since time immemorial and newly arrived neighbors; people of all religions, heritages, and political backgrounds—have united to protect our shared forests and waters.

We ask you to join us by taking the following actions:
1. Enact a permanent moratorium on clearcutting.
2. Transition to regenerative ecoforestry and selective logging practices, drawing upon traditional ecological knowledge to allow second/third growth forests to grow into old growth forests.
3. Manage our lands for healthy ecosystems and accessibility to traditional gatherers (not for maximizing profit).
4. Engage with diverse partnerships to regenerate healthy, biodiverse native forests on recently clearcut lands.
5. Stop supporting regressive tax structures and subsidies that reward clearcutting and harmful land management practices. Promote using that extra money to fund regeneration projects and replace state revenue that currently comes from clearcutting.
6. Be accountable for your role in this environmental destruction by paying for regeneration of the land and waters you have degraded.
7. Reject timber industry-funded research in universities and policy-making.
8. Return corporate-owned land to Indigenous Nations, known traditional Tribal caretakers of that land, or common lands organizations.

We look forward to your partnership on the above goals.

Sources:
(1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2SaRE8Sy6g
(2) https://didipershouse.medium.com/why-communities-should-invest-in-regenerative-agriculture-and-the-soil-sponge-431c27c8b34b
(3) https://theconversation.com/big-old-trees-grow-faster-making-them-vital-carbon-absorbers-22104
(4) https://stateofsalmon.wa.gov/statewide-data/habitat/
(5) https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/59/4/341/346941
(6) https://vimeo.com/529059672
(7) https://theconversation.com/biodiversity-how-our-health-and-happiness-depend-on-a-thriving-planet-157261
(8) https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/clearing-forests-may-transform-local-and-global-climate/
(9) https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/after-20-years-and-1-billion-spent-on-washington-state-salmon-programs-fish-still-declining-new-report-says/