In his neck of our woods, compromise won't grow on trees.Byline: PEOPLE By Bill Bishop The Register-Guard If you tell Tim Hermach that he is extreme, radical and counterproductive because of his uncompromising stance on preserving the nation's public lands, he will tell you that you forgot to mention "hard to work with." Hermach, the 61-year-old president of the Native Forest Council, embraces the disparaging dis·par·age tr.v. dis·par·aged, dis·par·ag·ing, dis·par·ag·es 1. To speak of in a slighting or disrespectful way; belittle. See Synonyms at decry. 2. To reduce in esteem or rank. terms that his opponents slap on him like so many bumper stickers on a hippie van. He holds his own bumper sticker in a photograph accompanying his column in the Forest Voice, a 25,000-circulation nationwide magazine he has published in Eugene since 1988. It reads: "Compromise be damned." To Hermach, the nation's public lands are a life support system, a sacred trust for future generations that is being liquidated DAMAGES, LIQUIDATED, contracts. When the parties to a contract stipulate for the payment of a certain sum, as a satisfaction fixed and agreed upon by them, for the not doing of certain things particularly mentioned in the agreement, the sum so fixed upon is called liquidated damages. (q.v. for short-term gain Short-term gain (or loss) A profit or loss realized from the sale of securities held for less than a year that is taxed at normal income tax rates if the net total is positive. . Nothing less. The Native Forest Council was the first environmental group to publicly call for an absolute ban on tree-cutting in public forests nearly two decades ago. Hermach considers it his greatest achievement because it eventually led to the Sierra Club Sierra Club, national organization in the United States dedicated to the preservation and expansion of the world's parks, wildlife, and wilderness areas. Founded (1892) in California by a group led by the Scottish-American conservationist John Muir, the Sierra Club adopting the proposal and legislation that proposed implementing it. "We basically changed the high bar," says Hermach, who adds, "I have a long list of failures." These days Hermach espouses a "corporate death penalty" to terminate and financially eviscerate e·vis·cer·ate v. e·vis·cer·at·ed, e·vis·cer·at·ing, e·vis·cer·ates v.tr. 1. To remove the entrails of; disembowel. 2. businesses that deliberately do public harm. As Hermach's stances have grown more strident with the passing years, he has earned admiration from committed environmentalists, but no allies among the business interests he condemns. He would have it no other way. "I deeply respect the work that Tim does and believe it is crucial to the environmental movement to have voices that will push the envelope," says Lauren Regan, executive director of the Civil Liberties Defense Center The Civil Liberties Defense Center ([1] is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 2003, it is made up of practicing public interest attorneys and organizers focused on defending the civil rights of all American citizens, particularly in Eugene. "Given the ecological crisis An ecological crisis occurs when the environment of a species or a population changes in a way that destabilizes its continued survival. There are many possible causes of such crises: But Chris West This article is about the science fiction writer. For the Catholic author, see Christopher West. Chris West (born 1954) is a British writer. , spokesman for the American Forest Resources Council of Portland, says Hermach's shrill voice does not contribute to solving problems. "These are very complex and intertwined issues. He is not about finding solutions. If you don't work to solve problems, you end up marginalizing yourself," West says. "We can't return the Pacific Northwest to where it was before Lewis and Clark came down the Columbia River Columbia River River, southwestern Canada and northwestern U.S. Rising in the Canadian Rockies, it flows through Washington state, entering the Pacific Ocean at Astoria, Ore.; it has a total length of 1,240 mi (2,000 km). . What we need to do is find solutions, given where we are today and what we can do." To Hermach, that sounds like "compromise." He believes big dreams and a vision of a better world can empower people to overcome seemingly unstoppable forces - like big-money corporate influence and consumer habits that create waste and pollution. "I don't cut deals," he says. "I'm not opposed to industry. I have no problem with compromise when it is ethical, moral and reasonable. So often big money dictates the rules." Holding fast on the embattled flank of environmental issues is lonely work, Hermach says. It's no place for quitters, for anyone who won't embrace conflict with the same commitment that one would pledge to a marriage - 'til death do us part, he says. The personal cost is high. "One of my kids said, 'How come you never laugh?' I've lost some of my cheerful spirit," Hermach says. "Some people would say I've lost all of it. I understand people's depression (over environmental degradation Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife. ). People tell me, 'Don't tell me. I don't want to know. I can't do anything about it.' " Hermach's activism awakened in the mid-1980s, when he returned to Eugene after working 20 years in Alaska and Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . He says the clear-cuts he saw during a flight in a small plane over old familiar stretches of the Willamette National Forest The Willamette National Forest is a National Forest located in the central portion of the Cascade Range of Oregon, US.[1] It contains 1,675,407 acres (2,618 mi², 6,780 km²) making it one of the largest national forests. appalled him. "I was raised by my parents to challenge authority. Question authority. Make it make sense," he says. He says it appears to him that the equation for timber harvest assigns a zero to the value of clean air, pure water and soil conservation provided by old trees. "Zero. The one thing we know they are not. There is only one true god in America. It is money," he says. "If those things counted, we'd make different decisions. We encourage unethical and immoral decision-making by corpor- ations." He volunteered with the Sierra Club in the 1980s, but quit after he was asked to study and recommend club support for one of five proposed logging plans for the forest. None was acceptable to Hermach, so he struck off on his own and ever since has been an outspoken critic of "beltway environmental front groups" who are "kinder, gentler versions of the deadly corporate parasites that are destroying nature." Compromise be damned. "They're robbing our kids' future," Hermach says. "I keep doing it because if I don't quit, I keep hope alive for my kids." TIM HERMACH Who: President of 2,000 member Native Forest Council, publisher of Forest Voice What he does: Champions "no compromise" preservation of public lands Up close: Married, two children ages 11 and 15 Bet you didn't know: He's a member of the National Rifle Association National Rifle Association (NRA) Governing organization for the sport of shooting with rifles and pistols. It was founded in Britain in 1860. The U.S. organization, formed in 1871, has a membership of some four million. Both the British and the U.S. |
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