Thanks to everyone who showed up to fight for Forests Over Profits! A few weeks ago, Wall Street investors, huge timber corporations, biomass & carbon offset companies, and other big polluters gathered for the annual “Who Will Own the Forest?” conference at the World Forestry Center. While communities around the world suffer record-breaking impacts of the climate crisis, these rich elites convened to discuss their plans to maximize profits through corporate land-grabbing and clear-cutting.
So, we showed up to protest the conference and hold our own event — Forests Over Profits. Action hosts included the Coast Range Association, the Indigenous Environmental Network, Rainforest Action Network, the Pacific Northwest Forest Climate Alliance, 350PDX, and many more.
Quick recap:
SEPT 27 — We showed up en masse at the “Who Will Own the Forest” conference to make it clear: we will not stand by while Wall Street investors and big polluters sacrifice Oregon forests to maximize corporate profits.
SEPT 28 — We held our own conference — Forests Over Profits! — to discuss how we can better manage our forests to support ecosystems, empower communities, and grow climate resilience, such as through Indigenous land management systems.
Read on for a longer recap of these actions and how you can get involved in local forest defense.
Tuesday, Sept 26 — protest at the conference’s opening reception
Activists blocked the entrances to the opening reception of Who Will Own the Forest (WWOTF) Conference for over an hour. They hung a banner on the front of the World Forestry Center Discovery Museum that read “Land Back: you will never own the forest.”
Wednesday, Sept 27 — rally at the World Forestry Center
Activists blocked the entrance gate to the WWOTF conference hall, holding banners making it clear to all conference attendees that Oregonians won’t stand by while Wall Street investors sacrifice communities and the ecosystems we depend on to maximize their profits. Nearly 200 people showed up to rally throughout the day. We had speakers, songs, chanting, theatrical performances, and more.
Speakers included Thomas Joseph Tsewenaldin and Brenna TwoBears from the Indigenous Environmental Network, Siiam Hamilton (an Indigenous land defender from so-called Vancouver Island and the Fairy Creek forest defense campaign), Chuck Willer (Coast Range Association), Brenna Bell (350PDX Forest Climate Manager), Tristan Quinn-Thibodeau (Senior Policy Campaigner for Action Aid’s Stop Land Grabs campaign), Nancy Webster (North Coast Communities for Watershed Protection), Anna Mae Leonard (Wanapum Sustenance Foods & Spiritual Practices Conservation), as well as folks from the Havurah Shalom Climate Action team, EcoFaith Recovery, and others.
Activists also hung a banner reading “Timber Money is Blood Money” over Highway 26 during afternoon rush hour. Then in the evening, activists paraded with banners and forest light globes around the World Forestry Center during a WWOTF reception.
Thursday, Sept 28 — Forests Over Profits counter-conference
Nearly 150 people attended Forests Over Profits, a grassroots counter-conference to WWOTF, where we talked about true, community-driven alternatives to corporate forest management. Speakers & panelists shared approaches to forest management that support ecosystems, empower communities, and grow climate resilience — including Indigenous land management systems, community forestry & land trusts, and other sustainable forest management practices.
At the conference:
— Chuck Willer (Coast Range Association) spoke on real alternatives to capitalist exploitation, discussing how the Green New Deal could pave the way for better management of Oregon forests, as well as other approaches to land reform
— Sarah Deumling (Zena Forest) and Alex Harris (RE Sources for Sustainable Communities) spoke on managing forests for ecological and community benefit
— John Brush (Cedar Moon Collective) provided frameworks and examples of commons land tenure for healing our relations
— Annie Mae Leonard (Wanapum Sustenance Foods & Spiritual Practices Conservation) spoke on the campaign against the commercialization of their traditional huckleberry gathering sites
— Thomas Joseph & Brenna Two Bears (Indigenous Environmental Network) spoke on false solutions, carbon markets, and the financialization of nature, as well as how we can change our relationship with land and nature.
— Klasom Salt’xw Losah (Coast Salish activist), spoke on the Fairy Creek Blockade
Activists from the Weelaunee Worldwide: Block Cop City Speaking Tour also spoke about the Stop Cop City movement in Georgia. They shared a call to action for people to defend Indigenous lands and the Weelaunee forest from Cop City this Nov 10-13, 2023.
How do I get involved in forest defense?
We are deeply grateful to all of our partners in organizing these actions, and to the larger community for showing up to discuss what we want for a better future for forest management here in Oregon. Thank you for being a part of this work with us, and let’s keep the conversation going! Here are some ways you can get involved in ongoing forest defense work:
Join the fight to stop Drax Group’s proposed wood biomass plant
The Drax Group, a corporation from England, is planning to build a new pellet plant in Longview, Washington for the industrial production of biomass energy from trees. They had previously been burning coal and are shifting to producing biomass energy as part of their “plan” to hit net zero carbon emissions by 2030. But we know that this process of biomass energy production is not carbon neutral, still creating massive amounts of greenhouse gas and destroying forests.
However Drax is still getting subsidized $750 million a year by the British government for their “net zero” plan, which will help them build this new biomass plant in Longview. The plant would process trees from around the country, but particularly from the forests of Washington and Oregon, allowing Drax to expand their “fiber baskets” to the Pacific Northwest. The plant would allow them to desotry local forests for their own profit, and as part of a greenwashed campaign to create “renewable” energy. Nothing about Drax’s biomass plan is renewable, and we don’t consent to this corporation destroying our local forests.
Join us in standing up to Drax! We need to build a grassroots movement to keep Drax out of Washington. Stay tuned for ways to take action.
Stand with land defense campaigns, locally and beyond
Learn about how Indigenous communities in Oregon, Washington and Idaho are fighting the commercialization of huckleberries by the Forest Service, private companies like Tillamook, and commercial pickers, which has been devastating for tribal communities. Join the Wanapum Sustenance Foods and Spiritual Practices Conservation rally on Oct 17 at Tillamook Creamery and take action. You can also support WSFSPC’s efforts by donating to $KlairiceWestley on CashApp.
Learn about the Stop Cop City movement to defend Indigenous lands and the Weelaunee forest from a massive police militarization facility, in Atlanta, Georgia, and show up for a call to action this Nov 10-13, 2023.
Learn about the Indigenous-led Fairy Creek campaign, one of the largest and longest displays of civil disobedience in Canadian history. Land defenders risked their lives to protect the last intact Old Growth Watershed on Vancouver Island.
Monday, Oct 16 – Join the Shade Equity Social
We’re hosting another Shade Equity Social this Monday, October 16, 6-8pm at the Rebuilding Center (3639 N Mississippi Ave). The event will focus on confronting the troubling recommendations that the Governor Kotek’s Housing Production Advisory Council (HPAC) made suggesting that cities be stripped of their power to implement existing tree codes to facilitate speedier, more profitable housing development. While we firmly support building new, affordable, healthy housing, the HPAC proposal seems designed so that developers can improve their bottom line at the expense of community health, climate, and tree canopy equity.
Join us in asking for Gov. Kotek to reject this proposal, and for HPAC to instead creatively engage the challenge of maintaining tree cover while increasing housing density.
Learn more about the Shade Equity Social and the campaign here.
We’re hosting another Shade Equity Social this Monday, October 16, 6-8pm at the Rebuilding Center (3639 N Mississippi Ave). The event will focus on confronting the troubling recommendations that the Governor Kotek’s Housing Production Advisory Council (HPAC) made suggesting that cities be stripped of their power to implement existing tree codes to facilitate speedier, more profitable housing development. While we firmly support building new, affordable, healthy housing, the HPAC proposal seems designed so that developers can improve their bottom line at the expense of community health, climate, and tree canopy equity.
Join us in asking for Gov. Kotek to reject this proposal, and for HPAC to instead creatively engage the challenge of maintaining tree cover while increasing housing density.
Learn more about the Shade Equity Social and the campaign here.
For the forests,
Brenna Bell, 350PDX Forest Climate Manager
P.S. Check out these articles on the Forests Over Profits action in the Oregon Capital Chronicle and The Oregonian, as well as this Coast Range Radio coverage
Listen to highlights from the Forests Over Profits rally and conference from Coast Range Radio. Photo from Coast Range Radio, pictured is Thomas Joseph of the Indigenous Environmental Network.
