First of all, I would like to thank all who have supported our research in producing this calendar over the last ten years. As a forest/eco-system photojournalist I have covered literally hundreds of thousands of miles of forestland in the United States & Canada and investigated many issues. What has been consistent throughout, is the enormous support the Wood Products industry and forestland owners have given in terms of "opening up" their lands and stories, for myself and others to openly investigate and examine the many issues surrounding the "hype" the media, environmentalist organizations and this current administration have posed to the public. The Wood Product Industries' story is an open book.

What also has been consistent over these last ten years, is that I have not found examples of poorly managed forests in any of the areas we have looked on industrial forestland. Nor have I encountered professional forestland owners or managers intentionally "looting" the national treasury in the form of timber theft, or abuse to our public forests these years, (as has been implied by the media).

What I have found instead all across this nation are forestland owners who really care about the land. Timber Industry people who really care about the environment and folks who are working for 2-3 generations down-the-road and our great grandchildren's future. I have not found "greed" in the wood products industry. I have only found people dedicated to doing a good job and practicing good business management, the same way you would run the "family" store.

The other thing I have found in this "Presidential administration" and our environmental community, is the misguided concept (or the deliberate deceit) that declaring forestland "sacred" by declaring it a Wilderness Area or National Monument, will "preserve" it, and it will remain that way forever.

Nothing could be further from the truth. No lands on this continent have gone without the influence of man for many thousands of years. We know the Native Americans burned millions of acres of forest every year, for a great many reasons; to drive game, to smoke out an enemy and in some cases just to gather fire wood.

We have seen the evidence of what non-management will do in many National Forests, Wilderness Areas and National Parks. Since these areas were historically "managed" by fire. We then surpressed these fires for 150 years and now we are letting these areas burn again, thinking we are doing it "naturally". This creates an unnatural condition. The forest then comes in too thick, allowing unnatural and encroaching species to invade, which has the added effect of weakening forest stands, making them more susceptible to bug infestations (tree killing insects), disease and "catastrophic fires". Catastrophic fires are those that due to the "fuel" load, burn so hot that they completely change the forest or will not allow the natural progression of the forest to continue, like the Yellowstone and Glacier fires of 88'.

These conditions are so apparent and overwhelming in our National Forests today, particularly the western forests, that Forest Service entomologists (bug experts) are predicting major outbreaks of tree killing insect infestations to effect millions and millions of acres of our public forestlands in the next few years. The result will be dead and dying forests, which are then even more susceptible to major "catastrophic" fires.

How can this be avoided? Manage our forests pro-actively! Private landowners have been doing this using modern forestry science for many years now. These days it's not hard to tell which forest is public (National Forest) and which is private forestlands, its the difference between non-management & management.

The real irony here is...... that the only way to "preserve" our forests is to manage them. That means "weeding" out over-crowded stands, dead, dying and diseased trees before they cause other problems. Not only do we benefit from the timber, but a healthy forest benefits the entire eco-system, including endangered species.

If we consider wildlife alone...... would you live in a burned out shell of a house? They can't either! We all need healthy forests to survive. True preservation is the intelligent management across the entire landscape! As we enter this millennium..... let's think to the future and how will we prepare the forests to meet our grandchildren's needs? Alive and healthy..... or dead and dying? It's up to us, now!