We envision a future in which:

• Our great-great-great grandchildren enjoy the same natural abundance that our great-great-great grandparents experienced.
• Biodiversity thrives, and the salmon runs are restored.
• Forests once again grow to be 1,000+ years old.
• Our soils and ecosystems are healthy enough to withstand the coming climate crisis.
• Our values and actions are focused on what really matters: connection, clean air and water, healthy food and medicines, safe shelter, and the continuation of life.
• We have transitioned to a circular economy. No one takes more than they need, and the only “waste products” become nutrients for something else to grow.
• Everyone’s needs are met. All people have the opportunity for meaningful, non-exploitative, and safe work. All forms of life thrive in balance with one another.

Healthy forests have healthy soil carbon sponges, which means that they can absorb more water in the soil. This extra water reduces wildfires, floods, droughts, and landslides, putting us in a better position to withstand the coming climate crisis. Furthermore, healthy forests stabilize local temperatures, cool landscapes, and sequester carbon, mitigating climate change. Older forests, larger trees, and their interconnected living root systems sequester more carbon than younger trees and newer forests.

Everything we need for life depends on our forests: Wildlife depend on biodiverse forests for their homes. Salmon runs depend on intact forested riparian zones. Our water depends on the health of our forests, which provide the biotic pump needed to jumpstart the water cycle. Even human health and happiness depend on biodiverse, intact forests.

For too many generations, our shared forests have been cyclically clearcut, covered with biocides, replanted in monoculture plantations, and never allowed to regrow back into the healthy, aged, biodiverse abundance that traditionally supported all life.

In this current time period, this cycle of destruction in the name of profits is speeding up even as salmon runs are failing, wildfire seasons are lengthening, and extreme weather events are increasing due to the extractive economy-driven climate crisis.

The Lorax Coalition

Our Values

1. All life is sacred and interdependent.
2. We need our elders (trees and people).
3. We need intact families (ecosystems and people).
4. We value the ending of all oppressions.
5. Everyone has a place in the circle.

Our Goals

1. End clearcutting.
2. Allow second growth forests to mature into old growth forests.
3. Manage public lands for healthy ecosystems and carbon sequestration (not for timber sales and profit).

Our Principles

Any individual or group who shares our values and goals may initiate an action on behalf of the Lorax Coalition as long as that action aligns with these principles:

1. Our actions focus on regeneration (not destruction).
2. We move at the pace of relationships.
3. We prioritize safety. (No drugs, alcohol, or weapons at actions. We meet or exceed all COVID mandates.)
4. We are all in this together. (There is no “us vs. them.”)

Videos

• Intelligent Trees
• Teachings of the Tree People
• Zach Weiss: Healing Communities and Ecosystems with Water Restoration
• Kiss the Ground
• WA Climate Assembly Learning Session 3: Environment and Climate Mitigation

Curricula/Nonfiction Books

• Northwest Native Trees (Tend, Gather & Grow Curriculum – Goodgrub.org)
• Evergreen Conifer Trees (Tend, Gather & Grow Curriculum)
• Can You Hear the Trees Talking? by Peter Wohlleben

Articles

• Biodiversity: How Our Health and Happiness Depend on a Thriving Planet
• Clearing Forests May Transform Local—and Global—Climate
• How Rainforests Attract Rain
• Big Old Trees Grow Faster, Making Them Vital Carbon Absorbers
• Rate of Tree Carbon Accumulation Increases Continuously with Tree size
• Salmon Need Healthy Places to Live
• Why Communities Should Invest in Regenerative Agriculture and the Soil Sponge
• Land Use Mitigation Strategies to Mitigate Climate Change in Carbon Dense Temperate Forests
• Intact Forests in the United States: Proforestation Mitigates Climate Change and Serves the Greatest Good
• Amid Climate Crisis, A Proposal to Save Washington State Forests for Carbon Storage, Not Logging