35.) Citizen: “Interview with Josh Laughlin, the Conservation director of the Cascadia Wildlands Project.”

Source Notes

Title: Interview with Josh Laughlin, the Conservation director of the Cascadia Wildlands Project.

 

 

 

 

Summary:

In a March 10th, 2009 interview, Josh Laughlin comments on the roadless rule, the economic value of conservation, and the Cascadia Wildlands Project environmental expectations for the Obama administration.

Topic:

Josh Laughlin of the Cascadia Wildlands Project.

Category:

 

 

Institutional/ Citizen.

What is it.
Interview.

 

Publication Information:
N/A

 

Author:

Jake Swantko

 

 

 

Location:

Cascadia Wildlands Project Headquarters in Eugene, Oregon.

 

 

 

Accessed:

Interview conducted on March 10^th, 2009.

 

 

 

 

Support:

 

Josh Laughlin, Conservation director of the Cascadia Wildlands Project.

 

 

 

Question and Answer format (answers from Laughlin are not exact quotes)

Interviewer: Jake Swantko (JS).

Interviewee: Josh Laughlin (JL).

 

JS.) What is your name and occupation in the Cascadia Wildlands Project?

 

JL.) Josh Laughlin- Conservation Director.

 

JS.) Tell me a little about the Cascadia Wildlands Project?

 

JL.) The Cascadia Wildlands Project has been a non-profit organization for ten years. The organization took root in 1997 at the University of Oregon. Several students, all of which were volunteers, wanted to protect old-growth forests. Thus, the organization was formed in 1998. We are centered in Eugene, Oregon but we also have an outfit in Cordova, Alaska. The mission and values of the organization is dedicated to the educating, organizing, and aggravating for environmental issues.

 

JS.) Is your office involved with the Tongass National Forest?

 

JL.) Yes, we monitor timber sales and are involved in environmental litigation.

 

JS.) What are your thoughts on the Roadless Rule Conservation Act of 2001?

 

JL.) The act has received millions of comments. Many foes of the Roadless Rule claim that it was an environmental policy that was rushed through and administered at the end of the Clinton administration. This is not true. It was a well devised plan that has overwhelming public support. Any roadless area should be set aside for conservation, not only for human benefit, but also for animal habitat, clean water, and clean air. Roadless areas are the future of sanity in our nation.

 

JS.) What do you think about the Bush administrations environmental policies?

 

JL.) If anything good came out of the Bush administrations environmental policies, it was that the public had a greater awareness of how important and fragile environmental policies can be. People now have a greater awareness of natural resource issues. The Bush administration was scratching the back of big industries by weakening existing environmental safeguards, politics as usual.

 

JS.) What economic benefit(s) do national forests have other than resource extraction?

 

JL.) If we focus on restoring degraded forests we can really stimulate the economy. There are real opportunities in restoration activities such restorative forest thinning, road rehabilitation, and restoration of deforestation. The Forest Service no longer promotes the clear-cutting of old-growth forests. There is a real industry at our finger tips for the decommissioning of old forest roads.

 

JS.) What are your expectations for the Obama administration in terms of environmental protection?

 

JL.) We need a return to scientific integrity- bottom line. In the Bush administration, politics trumped science. That must change first before anything else can change.

 

Audience and Agenda:

N/A

 

 

 

Usefulness:
Josh Laughlin gave me an in-depth interview on real issues regarding the roadless rule, the economic value of conservation, and the Cascadia Wildlands Project environmental expectations for the Obama administration. He also commented on the past administrations (Bush administration) lack of science based logic when policy was under review. The interview was very useful and reassuring. Reassuring in the fact that I knew all of the places and issues he was talking about and was able to provide educated responses. The interview was also useful because Laughlin provided me with a number of sources that would argue his claims—the BLM (Bureau of Land Management), and American Forest Resource Council.  

 

 

Works cited:

Josh Laughlin, Conservation director of the Cascadia Wildlands Project.

 

 

 

 

 

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