By Don Dillinger / Herald Forum

‘New policy “A Drastic Shift,” So began the paragraph describing the return to business-as-usual at the state DNR committee, which can stand for Department of Natural Resources, but also for “Do Not Resuscitate,” in contexts where people have lost hope in a once-thriving entity (“New state policy could affect timber sales in Snohomish County,” The Herald, Dec. 19).

Resuscitate the DNR! Get the state agency back on track, protecting the precious mature old-growth forests while giving due consideration to the forestry industry. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to fight for the vigorous survival of our glorious natural environment, including of course the great trees, dense green mossy habitats and clean water and air of the western Cascades. The formidable forces of industry will always devour such lush legacies unless checked by a higher power. Now, evidently to block any attempt by incoming Commissioner of Lands Dave Upthegrove to actually implement the 2006 “Policy for Sustainable Forests” (with some minimum fraction being true multispecies, older-growth forests), the old-growth clearcutting could resume at speed.

We are masters of using up the “resources,” but we utterly lack the ability to see when to back off. All the planning and execution energy focused on short-term gains, with no thought for later generations. The “invisible hand” of the market leaves a deep scar the invisible future can’t heal. Literally millions of species are endangered and will vanish from earth before we even notice. So many places and ecosystems are defenseless against human hunger for fuel, food and energy. We must start seeing our own needs where they really are: within the webwork of needs that is nature, or we will eventually destroy the whole thing.

I found in an article in the leading British medical journal The Lancet, the shocking language: “Biodiversity loss: a health crisis” (Vol 404, Oct 26 2024): ”The fundamental reliance of Human societies and their health on biodiversity is often overlooked. Ironically, in order to safeguard humanity we must decenter humanity from our thinking about the world. The increasing movement to attribute legal rights to nature and biodiversity could be one such approach to rebalancing our relationship with nature.”

Everett voters appear to agree, voting to give such recognition to the Snohomish River in the recent election. Bravo. Some are paying attention.

Don Dillinger lives in Snohomish.