Forestry Sub-local 629 Statewide Meeting, October 22nd

Our next Forestry Sub-local Statewide meeting will be October 22nd in The Dalles.  The plan is to meet from 10:00 am to 2:00pm to allow morning travel time for those coming from Central Oregon, lodging will available for those that would have to leave before 7:00am.  Tentatively our meeting spot is Cousins.

Please save the date and if you have agenda items share them with any of the Local officers or Mike Bray our SEIU 503 Statewide Forestry Organizer.

Our Place in America’s Imagination

Where are we going, what is in our imagination, who will make it happen.  Employees of Forestry Local 629 you are on the leading edge.

In the American psyche there has always been something over the horizon, and there is today too.  In the 1840’s it was the United States, a seafaring nation, and fleets of ships making us a powerful force of commerce.  In “Two Years Before the Mast” by Richard Henry Dana, Jr. he shares his first hand account of howling southeasters as they rounded The Horn. Fifty years later in 1888 it was the west, as recounted in Theodore Roosevelt’s “Ranch-Life and the Hunting Trail”.  For me it was “Space the Final Frontier” and moon landings.

Today global warming, is our challenge to solve and forestry is at the leading edge of that solution.  Forest practices and wildfire suppression go hand in hand on preventing carbon emissions from wildfires and sequestering that carbon for sustainable and renewable buildings.  In doing what you do you are part of the global warming solution.  

Why as labor, should it be talked about?  It is because there will be long hours under difficult circumstances and it is important that simple privileges and recognition of your contributions be noted. It will be tough but those at the front have always had to pull a little bit harder.