I find that, for myself, once the excitement of getting involved in a new project has turned into the everyday activity of working on the project, it becomes all too easy to concentrate on the daily activities and lose a little focus on the big issue.  This is my “not seeing the forest for the trees” problem.

We on the Board have been talking about how we can encourage more volunteers, especially more Board members.  We have been talking about responding to the Biden administration’s proposed Environmental Assessment creating protections for old-growth forests, and other activities.  When I started to write this note, I first wrote a draft on these details when it occurred to me that all these discussions need to be done in the context of the overall purpose of the Friends of Douglas-Fir National Monument. 

The Friends of Douglas-Fir National Monument was formed to advocate for, and advance the idea of a national monument that recognizes the unique character of the Douglas-fir species.  The area of the upper Santiam, and the upper McKenzie River forms an ideal area for a Douglas-Fir National Monument.  It contains magnificent old-growth stands. The area around Crabtree Creek may be the oldest stand, or among the oldest stands, of Douglas-fir left in the world. The area of the proposed monument also contains large areas of mature forests that embody the wonder and diversity of the Douglas-fir ecosystem. Once I start on the reasons why we need a Douglas-Fir National Monument it is hard to stop.  

But back to the idea of the forest and the trees; we need volunteers to help us on the Board and in other activities, because we need to spread the news of the importance of the Monument.  We need to push the Biden administration on its old-growth initiative because it is a good interim step on the way to the protections of a national monument.  Every time we admire or promote a particular step (a tree), we need to remember the importance of the forest that surrounds it, that makes up the Douglas-Fir National Monumwnt.

Obtaining our goal of a national monument is not an easy task.  Even once you have momentum of broad public support (which we need more of) you need to go through the bureaucratic process to finally make it to declaration.   The end of a president’s term is traditionally a time when national monuments are declared. It seems unlikely that the Douglas-Fir National Monument will make it this Presidential term.

So, what we need to do while we work on the trees is to keep our eyes on the forest as a whole, to keep expanding our base in terms of volunteers, board members, other group endorsements, and to keep writing to the President and to our members of Congress, so that everyone paying attention is aware that there is a beautiful, wonderful forest up there on the Santiam and the McKenzie Rivers that needs recognition as a national monument.