The Monkey Wrench Gang Rides Again

Well, okay, “Rides Again” might be a stretch. Let's just say the Monkey Wrench Gang has finally inspired sustainable logging practices. The Associated Press reports that 26 years after the Bald Mountain logging protests carried out by Earth First!, the House Hope Stewardship Project is restoring 890 acres of the area with funds from Obama's stimulus package. The project consists of crews running through the old logging areas, thinning out brush and slash piles in order to create a healthier forest ecology. Currently, the forests are unhealthy, and the U.S. Forest Service estimates that 60 to 80 million acres need help. (Read the full feature here.)

Back in 1983, Mike Roselle and Dave Foreman founded Earth First! after reading Edward Abbey's controversial 1975 novel, The Money Wrench Gang. Inspired by the book, Earth First's first action was to block a bulldozer, which led to their arrest, as well as the beginning of the Northwest timber wars. This confrontational approach initiated a new radical activism in the environmental movement.

As for the logging companies adjusting to modern times, the report gives the example of the Rough & Ready Lumber Co., which is taking steps to tap the California market with its stringent green-building codes. According to the report, Rough & Ready has had its products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. In order to meet the codes, the company has to kiln dry its lumber, and the ovens are heated with slashing from the forest thinning projects, which also creates electricity in a co-generation plant. Some anticipate that this model of zero waste and sustainability is a prototype that will be adopted slowly by loggers in the Northwest. Not only will it prove more cost-effective, but as consumers continue to shift toward green construction, the demand for certifiably sustainable forest products will dictate the market.