BOOTH WHO? - Washington State Digital Archives

get over that phobia of public speaking. You’re trying to sound intelligent and know what
you’re talking about – trying to get people enthused. …But it was so much fun working with
Ralph on the Centennial. And by the time I was president of the Seattle Symphony Board
(in 1993) I could stand up and talk to anybody about anything.”
* * *
Just as timber towns were slowly rebounding from the painful recession of the early
1980s the U.S. Forest Service proposed to drastically reduce the harvest on the Olympic
Peninsula to protect the Northern
Spotted Owl, soon to be declared a
threatened species. Environmentalists
said it was the proverbial canary in
the coal mine for an entire old-growth
ecosystem.
January 19, 1989, was the day
the world turned upside down for
Monte Dahlstrom and Tom Mayr, a pair
of second-generation Grays Harbor
loggers, and thousands of others whose
livelihoods were rooted in the woods.
Mill owners assembled at the Quinault
Ranger Station, expecting the Forest
Service to announce that 90 million
board feet of timber would be available. They could live with that. Jaws dropped when they
were told that the new guidelines for protecting owl habitat would reduce the cut to 42
million board feet. Rex Holloway, a Forest Service manager, added that he was duty bound
to warn that it could be 20 million board feet in the years to come. “This will be economic
devastation for Grays Harbor,” said Dahlstrom. “It will be a different place to live.” It was no
exaggeration.
Booth had been a strong supporter of the landmark Timber, Fish & Wildlife
Agreement of 1987. “TFW” was a consensus-building approach to maximizing timber
harvests while minimizing environmental impacts – all the while striving to resolve
conflicts through negotiation rather than litigation. Now he created a Timber Team to
coordinate assistance programs, including wide-ranging efforts to help communities
diversify their economies and retrain workers. He also lobbied the Forest Service for
more liberal harvest levels. Rich Nafziger, one of Gardner’s most versatile staffers, headed
the team, coordinating outreach by state agencies and helping lobby the Legislature for
assistance. The plight of timber communities resonated with Gardner. He was determined
to help and saddened by the despair he saw during his frequent visits to Aberdeen and
Hoquiam, Longview, Kelso and Port Angeles. He also held meetings in Raymond, Forks and
Booth with Werner Mayr, a pioneer Grays Harbor logger, during the
height of the Spotted Owl controversy. Kathy Quigg ©The Daily World
(Aberdeen, WA) Reprinted with permission.
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