I've measured tree after tree, mapped streams and wetlands, tracked signs of wildlife, and climbed up and down steep ravines to see with my own eyes the full breadth of what will be lost if a sale goes through. I now know what "forest health" proposals really mean in 2018. And I can tell you it's quite different than what my former self and most other people imagine.
Beaver dams create wetlands that help decrease the impacts of floods, recharge drinking water aquifers, protect watersheds from drought, decrease erosion, remove toxic pollutants, create habitat for threatened salmon, and much more!
Ecological tending is the sustained, reciprocal interaction between people and forests. It requires applying oneself to the essential care of something by working with its natural tendencies without inferring control over them.