ENHS Nature Trails Mar. 98 Article 1

This month's speaker: Tim Hermach
by David Wagner

The Native Forest Council is a relatively new kid on the block for environmental organizations; it's only 10 years old. It was founded in 1988 by Tim Hermach. The talk he is giving to the Eugene Natural History Society on Friday might be considered a part of its 10 year celebration, but he gave no sense that he has stopped to notice a celebration might be in order. This is an activist organization he's commanding and I suspect Tim might tend to overlook little things like anniversary celebrations. There's none of it in their publicity literature.

Tim was born in Eugene in 1945. He likes to point out that there were no dams on the Willamette River; the national forests were unlogged and barely roaded; the streams were clear--so clean you could safely drink from them--and thick with salmon. His was a poor family. Tim worked in the fields to earn money for clothes. Recreation with his four brothers was mainly in the woods; hiking, climbing, camping. He was raised with a strong work ethic coupled with a respect for tools and resources. And a love for nature.

He left home in the early 60's after graduating from high school. Early travel led him to the Black Forest in Germany, where he saw a forest kept too clean and thereby being loved to death. He worked in Portland, had a stint in Viet Nam, then worked in Los Angeles from 1975-1980. The crowding and unnatural landscape of the latter city offended him deeply. He became familiar with both the good and bad of upper-level managers, in a variety of multi-national corporations.

In 1980 Tim returned to Eugene and felt the impact of change. It was not a good feeling. A dozen of his favorite camp spots were gone, destroyed by the chainsaw. The rivers were polluted, the salmon disappearing. Tim joined the Sierra Club and became an energetic volunteer.

His impression of the Sierra Club was not satisfying. He felt they were actually a part of the problem, protesting only the manner and rate, and not what was done. The watershed came when the Willamette National Forest Plan came out. While editor of the local chapter of Sierra Club's newsletter, The Runoff, he participated in an evaluation of the plan. Compared to tight business plans he was familiar with, the forest plan was a mess. The proposed alternatives bore little relationship to background data. The only sensible alternative seemed clear: no more logging of oldgrowth!

This proposal appeared in the Runoff and was widely circulated. It seemed an extreme view at the time. It offended the management of the Sierra Club, who advocated a "moderate" attitude. When, in reaction, Tim started the Native Forest Council, he was warned he could never gain much support. The decade since then has proven otherwise. The membership of the Sierra Club voted for it and made national headlines. The Native Forest Council has been able to raise over a million and a half dollars to promote its primary goal: To set proper goal posts for forest protection. How else to recover from so many years of over-exploitation? No more logging on public lands, expressed as the Zero Cut campaign.

The Zero Cut campaign has reached Congress. What was once an unbelievably unrealistic, even counterproductive, notion has gathered strength as it made sense to more and more people. The Zero Cut campaign will be at the heart of Tim's talk this Friday. Come prepared to be inspired and invigorated!

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