Maybe we won't burn while we pan?
Next Western Battle: Eureka, MT Log Haul
A Sierra Times Announcement 05.10.01
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On the Thursday, May 17th- the day before MLA's 25th Anniversary Celebration - folks in Northwest Montana are planning a "payback" for Jim Hurst. Hurst, the co-owner of Owens & Hurst Lumber Company in Eureka, has a bit of a reputation for organizing rallies in support of natural resource industries and the rural communities that depend upon them.
Soooo...in January - after Owens & Hurst shut down for two weeks before cutting back to one shift, eliminating some 40 permanent jobs - a few folks headed by Ed Eggleston of Libby, decided that it was time to show some local support for Owens & Hurst. As these things go, a few other folks joined those folks…and, now, rumors are beginning to circulate that the crowd could swell to several thousand folks.
So how did all this get started? According to Eggleston, the curtailment at Owens & Hurst, coming on the heels of mill closures at Olney and Seeley Lake, was too much to take; thus, he decided to cut a few 8 foot logs on his own property, haul them to Eureka in his pickup and donate them to Owens & Hurst.
Eggleston quickly reasoned that if he was willing to cut his own trees for such a cause, then others might also be willing to participate. So he contacted Bruce Vincent - a renowned troublemaker with exceptional organization skills - and they developed a plan for an all out pickup convoy!
Originally, they figured on a hundred loads from the south end of the county, with another hundred loads coming from the Flathead. "Then it just snowballed." Folks from as far as Nevada, California, South Dakota, and Washington have heard of the convoy and have asked how they can participate.
"We won't let another mill close," Eggleston said. "We stop the dominoes from falling right here, and I want to start propping dominoes back up again."
Reminiscent of the original Great Northwest Log Haul that delivered over 300 logging truckloads to the Darby Lumber Mill on May 13, 1988, the Eureka Log Haul is, in fact, the first actual "LOG HAUL" convoy since that great day. Yes, we've had convoys - but this one is designed to deliver wood along with a message.
That message is clear. There is yet another family owned sawmill at risk of being closed while we sacrifice our forests to alter the politically correct fire. There is yet another economic centerpiece of a small rural community threatened with extinction. Yet another important piece of our rural, resource-providing culture is imperiled. There is absolutely no rational reason for this chain of events to continue.
The Forest Service has the legal ability, the legal responsibility, to sustainably manage the forest surrounding our rural areas - particularly those areas that have been burned or are going to burn. It is hoped that this convoy will give the Forest Service and our new administration the courage to do the right thing - for our forests and our based culture.
Our society has the obligation to consider what will happen to our precious forests if the forest managing culture is uprooted and destroyed. Just how the forests of our children will fare without a culture of forest caregivers is a picture that must be painted for our nation of concerned forest lovers.
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