The White House

Office of the Press secretary

THE FOREST CONFERENCE

Participants

ROUNDTABLE 1: WHO IS AFFECTED AND HOW

Presenters:

• MIKE DRAPER, Executive Secretary, United Brotherhood of Carpenters, Western Council of Industrial Workers, Portland, OR, represents 30,000 members across ten western states. His members work as loggers, in sawmills, and in plywood and particle board manufacturing and re-manufacturing plants..
• DIANA WALES, is a partner in a small law firm in Roseburg, OR with a practice limited to family law. She is also a co-chair of the Umpqua Valley Audubon Society Conservation Committee as well as other environmental, professional, and civil organizations.
• BOB SPENCE, President, Pacific Lumber Sales Company, Seattle, WA. Mr. Spence and his family operate this privately-held company which owns three sawmills and exports both logs and finished wood products.
• PATRICIA LEE, , Charter member Oregon Trout, Streamside Inn, Idleyld, OR, runs an inn and is in the process of creating an environmental education center for the children of Douglas County.
• ARCHBISHOP THOMAS MURPHY, Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle; Archbishop Murphy has led the Roman Catholic Church in western Washington since 1991. He has helped organize relief and social service efforts for timber-dependent communities..

Panelists:

• BILL ARTHUR, is Director of the Sierra Club's Northwest Office in Seattle. He grew up in Montana where his father was a small independent timber operator. He is an economist by training and has been involved with the Sierra Club and forestry issues for the past ten years.
• NADINE BAILEY, of Hayfork, CA, is the wife of a logger and a dedicated spokeswoman for loggers whose livelihoods depend on timber harvesting. Nadine's daughter, Elizabeth, participated with the President in the ABC TV Town Meeting for children.
• NAT BINGHAM, is a commercial fisherman who owns and operates a fishing vessel and fishes for salmon, crab, and albacore. He served as President of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Association and currently serves as their field coordinator for their fisheries habitat program.
• BUZZ EADES, Eades Forest Resources, is a graduate forester and a sixth generation logger.
• JOHN HAMPTON, Chief Executive Officer, Willamina Lumber Co., Portland, OR, founded Hampton Lumber in 1950 and became CEO of Willamina in 1970. He currently serves as Chairman of the Northwest Forest Resources Council.
• KEN MARSON, Marson & Marson Lumber, runs a retail lumber yard, Ace Hardware Center and Truss Manufacturing Plant. He also is active in the National Lumber Dealers and Building Material Dealers Association.
• LARRY MASON, Western Commercial Forest Action Committee, is from Forks, WA, and owned a mill that had to close. He now heads a group of 500 individuals who represent a broad section of timber dependent communities.
• MARGARET POWELL, Member, Hoopa Tribe, Hoopa, CA, is the owner of a small mill located on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation. She also has served on the Hoopa Tribal Council for 14 years and is active in other tribal affairs.
• VIC SHER, is the Managing Attorney for the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund in Seattle, WA. His practice is devoted entirely to representing citizens in litigation and administrative action related to environmental protection. He has been counsel to the environmental plaintiffs in a series of cases relating to the forest and wildlife management issues in the region.
• PHYLLIS STRAUGER, Mayor, Hoquiam, WA, has served on the Hoquiam City Council from 1969 to 1988. She has served as Mayor since 1988. She has been active in state service and in the National League of Cities.
• FRANK TALLERICO, Superintendent of Schools, Siskiyou County, Yreka, CA, has served as Superintendent for the past eight years. Prior to that, he served in other capacities in the Superintendent's office and taught fifth through 12th grade classes.
• MECA WAWONA, is the founder of New Growth Forestry in Ukiah, CA. She and her husband run a small business cooperative that specializes in forest and salmon habitat restoration.

ROUNDTABLE 2: ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC ASSESSMENTS

Forest Management Issues
Presenters:

• JOHN GORDON, Dean, Yale University School of Forestry. Dr. Gordon is a forest ecologist who spent the majority of his career at Oregon State University. He has written extensively on forest policy issues and was one of the "Gang of Four," the team of four government and university scientists who produced a 1991 study on the health of the forests and different management alternatives at the request of the House Agriculture and Merchant Marine Committees.
• LORIN HICKS, Plum Creek Timber Co., Seattle, WA. Dr. Hicks is a wildlife biologist who has conducted research on spotted owls on private and public lands. He was a contributing author of the Spotted Owl Recovery Plan, the Bush Administration's Department of Interior plan for protecting the owl..
• CHARLES MESLOW, Director, U.S. Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service, Cooperative Research Unit, Corvallis, OR. Dr. Meslow is a research biologist and professor of wildlife ecology at Oregon State University. He is known for his research on northern spotted owls and was a member of the Scientific Analysis Team that released its report to the court on March 19, 1993.

Panelists:

• RICK BROWN, National Wildlife Federation, Portland, OR. Brown is a wildlife and forest ecologist who previously worked for the Forest Service. He has actively promoted 'ecosystem' approaches to forest management.
• JERRY FRANKLIN, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. Dr. Franklin is a leading forest ecologist whose research focuses on old growth forests. He was one of the "Gang of Four" and has been called the "Father of New Forestry."
• CHAD OLIVER, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. Dr. Oliver is a silviculture and forest policy professor at the University of Washington, School of Forest Resources.
• JIM SEDELL, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Corvallis, OR. Dr. Sedell is a fishery biologist who is a leading researcher into how forest land use affects fish habitat. He was the principal fishery biologist on the Scientific Analysis Team. He is a native Oregonian and local fisherman.
• DAN TOMASCHESKI, Vice President, Sierra Pacific Industries, Redding, CA. Tomascheski's company owns 1.1 million acres of commercial forest land in California. It is also the largest California purchaser of timber on federal lands. Almost onethird of the timber for the Sierra Pacific's nine sawmills comes from federal lands. Tomascheski was active in efforts to reach consensus with environmentalists on private forest lands in California.

Economic Issues
Presenters:

• BRIAN GREBER, Professor, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR. Dr. Greber's research addresses forest product markets and regional economics. He has been an advisor to several federal task forces, including the "Gang of Four," and the Endangered Species Committee.
• LOUISE FORTMANN, University of California, Berkeley, CA. Dr. Fortmann is a rural sociologist who has focused on environmental protest and community well-being. She has conducted major ethnographic and statistical analyses in the region. Panelists:
• ANN HANUS, Assistant State Forester, Oregon Department of Forestry, Salem, OR. Ms. Hanus is a professional forester and economist who has been involved with this issue since 1985. She served as staff to Tom Walsh, the Oregon representative to the Endangered Species Committee.
• BOB LEE, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. Dr. Lee's field of study centers on the social aspects of forest resource use. For many years, he has studied the social and cultural consequences of wood supply reduction on forestdependent communities. He is affiliated with the nonprofit group, The Temperate Forest Foundation, which seeks to develop a middle ground for the development of sustainable use practices.
• ED WHITELAW, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR. Whitelaw is an economist who believes that northwest regional economies are in transition and that most timber workers and companies realize federal lands will provide less timber than in the past.

ROUNDTABLE 3: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

Presenters:

• JULIE NORMAN, President of Headwaters, a southwest Oregon grassroots group working for federal forestry reform through policy research, timber sale monitoring, public education, and negotiations/litigation.
• JIM GEISINGER, President, Northwest Forestry Association, Portland, OR. The NFA represents forest product manufacturers and forest landowners in Washington and Oregon who depend on public lands for fiber supply. He has more than 17 years experience working for forestry trade associations and has spent his entire career on resource issues affecting federal forest management.
• GUS KOSTOPULOS, Executive Director, Woodnet, a non-profit network of more than 300 wood products manufacturers on Washington's Olympic Peninsula. Before establishing Woodnet, Kostopulos held a number of management positions, employing many of the techniques and strategies characteristic of flexible manufacturing.
• ROSLYN HEFFNER, has been operating her own vocational counseling service since 1987, focusing primarily on assisting injured workers back to gainful employment. She is a registered nurse and has a Masters Degree in rehabilitation counseling.
• RICH NAFZIGER, is currently Deputy Insurance Commissioner for Policy and Legislative Affairs for the state of Washington. Between 1988 and 1993, he served as Special Assistant to the Governor for Timber Policy and Rural Development and was Director of the Governor's Timber Team, responsible for coordinating state policy and programs relating to forestry issues and timber community development.

Panelists:

• CHARLES W. BINGHAM, Executive Vice President, Weyerhaeuser Co.; Director of Puget Sound Power and Light Co.; Chair of the Tacoma-Pierce County American Leadership Forum; Vice President of the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust; and a trustee of the Weyerhaeuser Foundation. He is past chair of the National Forest Products Association Board of Governors.
• JIM COATES, Vice President, International Woodworkers of America Local 3-2. From 1990 to the present, he has served as Community Outreach Coordinator to provide information on training programs and available social service resources, creating innovative programs, such as a weekly television broadcast, "People Helping People," through a local ministerial association, to provide information to timber families..
• BOB DOPPELT, Executive Director and Cofounder of the Pacific Rivers Council. He began the Council because he owned a commercial river trip and fishing business for 11 years and experienced firsthand the environmental impacts on the region's rivers and fisheries and felt a group was needed to specifically focus on these issues. He is known as a creative national expert on riverine protection and restoration strategies.
• IRV FLETCHER, is President of the Oregon AFL-CIO.
• ERIC HOLLENBECK, began working in the woods at 14, first surveying for timber access roads and later logging. At 24, he began a logging company, the Blue Ox Millworks. Three years later, along with his wife, Hollenbeck built a sawmill and has been manufacturing finished wood products for the last 17 years. Two years ago, they opened the historic facilities for tours and this year they are opening a School of the Traditional Arts to educate tomorrow's woodworkers and entrepreneurs.
• JIM IRVINE, is Vice President and Treasurer, National Association of Home Builders and is a home builder from Portland. He is President of the Conifer Group, a construction, development and property management company building primarily single family homes and light commercial developments.
• ANDY KERR, is Conservation Director for the Oregon Natural Resources Council, a 20-year-old coalition of more than 40 sports, conservation, recreation, commercial and educational groups interested in the wise management of Oregon's lands, waters, and other natural resources. ONRC represents more than 6,000 individual members and maintains offices on Portland, Eugene, and Bend.
• KATHERINE MATER, is Vice President of Mater Engineering, Inc, a forest products engineering and market research firm based in Corvallis, OR, which has served the wood products industry for 50 years. She is recognized as an industry leader in researching and identifying value-added wood product manufacturing solutions which adapt to reduced raw resource supplies, yet offer profits and job security for the industry.
• WALTER MINNICK, is CEO of a $400 million facility, TJ International, one of the largest purchasers of veneer in the west. They have 1,000 employees in Oregon and own four mills on the west side. He is currently a member of the Governing Council of The Wilderness Foundation, American Business Conference, Idaho Conservation League, and the Nature Conservancy.
• CHARLES OLLIVIER, has been an active participant in the International Longshoremen and Warehousemen's Union Local 14 for 27 years, 12 of which were as President. Presently, he is elected Commissioner, 5th District Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District and is the Vice President of the District.
• FELICE PACE, is Program Coordinator for the Klamath Forest Alliance, a community-based, nonprofit organization based in northern California. The KFA works to reform public land management with special emphasis on rehabilitating damaged watersheds on public land to restore salmonid and other fisheries at risk of extinction. He has lived in Siskiyou County for 18 years and has been active in forest issues since 1980.
• TOM ROBINSON, for the past six years has been manager of the Oregon Salmon Commission , representing the Oregon troll fisherman and primary processors through product promotions, education, communications and research. He has served as an official salmon fishery representative on the Pacific Fishery Management Council By-Catch Committee and on the Oregon Coho Review Committee.
• DAVE SCHMIDT, has served as County Commissioner of Linn County, Oregon since 1988. He is a member of the Council of Forest Trust Lands and is a Board Member on the Western Interstate Region of Public Lands, which works with the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service on local issues.
• TED STRONG, has been Executive Director of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission for four years, created by the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakima Indian Nation, and the Nez Perce Tribe.
• JACK WARD THOMAS, is the Chief Research Biologist and Project Leader for Range and Wildlife Habitat Research for the USDA Forest Service. He has published more than 250 works, was a member of the "Gang of Four," the team of four government and university scientists who produced a 1991 study on the health of the forests and different management alternatives at the request of the House Agriculture and Merchant Marine Committees. Dr. Thomas chaired the Interagency Scientific Committee, which established the conservation strategy for northern spotted owls. He also was the leader of the Scientific Analysis Team which, under court order, released its report on the management of old growth ecosystems in March.

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