There is a new momentum building across the West that is taking many forms, but has a common theme: —“Treat the Forests and Save our Communities.” The impetus is coming from rural Americans who have been played like pawns in a chess game over how the federal forests surrounding their communities are being managed. The uprising gets stronger with every acre of federal forest that goes up in flames destroying homes and watersheds, or is killed by insects and disease. It is also strengthened by the closure of each sawmill, by every rural community that faces 20 percent unemployment, and by every local government unable to meet the needs of its citizenry.
