Our Mission Statement
"Our primary mission is to safeguard Oregon’s forests, watersheds, and endangered species by advocating for ecologically sound forest practices on both public and private lands and to provide public education on the issues facing our forest ecosystems and the critical role they play in the preservation of a healthy planet."
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About Forest Web
Forest Web was founded in 2007 as a grassroots environmental group by local
conservation advocates in Cottage Grove, Oregon to campaign against the
Western Oregon Revision (WOPR), which threatened BLM forests throughout
Oregon with weakened environmental protections and increased logging.
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In 2011, we were accepted as a project under the 501(c)3 umbrella of Another
Way Enterprises (AWE), a local non-profit that acts as an incubator for small
groups to be able to accept charitable donations to further their work. In
October 2019, Forest Web received our Articles of Incorporation as an Oregon
Non-Profit and in June of 2020, we received our 501(c)3 designation, stepping
out from under AWE’s umbrella, leaving them with our deepest gratitude for
giving Forest Web the ability to grow.
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Today, Forest Web remains an all-volunteer organization and continues to
honor our grassroots beginnings, engaged in the preservation not only of local
old-growth forests, but also of the wildlife, watersheds, and all forest ecosystems
throughout the Pacific Northwest.
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Forest Web organizes field trips to National Forests, BLM lands, and Oregon State Forests to promote awareness of Oregon’s forestry issues on our public lands.
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We encourage public participation by providing information on Forest Service timber sale proposals and notices of public hearings on National and State forest policies, upcoming Federal and State environmental legislation, aerial herbicide spraying, endangered species issues with an emphasis on wolf recovery, Climate Change, and other environmental issues.
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Forest Web takes an active role in the comment process on timber sales and management plans, providing both oral testimony and written comments.
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We organize lobbying campaigns for environmental concerns such as clear-cutting in state forests and the cumulative impact on our climate caused by logging our planet’s richest carbon sinks.
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Forest Web organizes educational events such as film screenings and speaker presentations and participates in tabling events to share information and discuss environmental issues with the public.
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We work with a variety of other environmental organizations, other activists, and scientists on coordinated lobbying efforts and information campaigns.
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Forest Web operates an active email list, Facebook page and group, YouTube channel, Instagram, and this website to share, activate, educate, and inform.
Our Board of Directors & Staff
We have been blessed to have dedicated friends and supporters who stepped up to help us move forward and do the work needed to become an official non-profit organization. These wonderful people also actively participate on our various committees and campaigns.
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Greg Hubbard, President
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David Gardiepy, Vice-President
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Patricia Fischer, Secretary
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Sam Stoufer, Treasurer & Media Director
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Mary Grace Brogdon, Member-at-Large & Public Lands Director
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Jim Lockhart, Member-at-Large
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Kevin Matthews, Member-at-Large
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Cristina Hubbard, Executive Director
It is with great sadness, we honor the passing of our ally and colleague, Marshall Gause. A longtime partner in environmental action, Marshall advocated for a healthy planet, worked to pass legislation to ban aerial herbicide spraying in Lane County, and wrote eloquent words in defense of our forests. Our Board of Directors will be so much less without his presence and his voice. Rest in peace, dearest friend.
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Our First Campaign - Protesting the WOPR​​
In 2007, the Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR) proposed to restructure the Bureau of Land
Management's (BLM) management plan for 2.5 million acres of public forestland in Oregon,
opening up hundreds of thousands of acres to clear- cut harvesting methods, placing
thousands of private water sources and public watersheds at risk due to erosion,
and jeopardizing fragile riparian zones (areas bordering creeks, streams, and
rivers). Not only did the 1600-page proposal allow for the destruction of most
of the remaining old-growth forest stands in the state, it did not meet the
federal requirements of the Clean Air and Water Act or the Endangered
Species Act.
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The WOPR was the result of a George W. Bush Administration lawsuit
settlement with the timber industry. It would have nullified much of the
1994 Northwest Forest Plan (which was already considered the bare
minimum necessary for the protection of Oregon's public forests). The timber
industry would have profited by destroying future natural resources and jobs with
their heavily mechanized harvesting practices, replacing our public forests with timber
plantations.
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As a group, town and rural residents banded together and formed Forest Web of Cottage Grove to oppose the WOPR. We worked at educating the press and public officials about the danger facing our forest lands via organized treks into the midst of these beautiful old growth stands. We provided information on the details of the WOPR to the residents of Cottage Grove and organized letter-writing, phone bank, and postcard campaigns. During the BLM's public comment period on the WOPR, we organized the community with a series of events to generate written comments providing arguments against the implementation of a plan that would overturn years of habitat restoration and endangered species protection. This was so effective, it prompted the Eugene BLM office to ask, "who are those people in Cottage Grove?"