Working for Sustainable Natural and Human Communities
The Northern Forest Forum was spearheaded by grassroots activists, most of whom lived in or near timber-dependent communities, to give voice to those left out of the Northern Forest Lands Council’s (1990-1994) discussions and considerations on the future of northern New England and New York, especially:
- The forests and native species, including the wolf, cougar, and Atlantic salmon
- The tribes and people displaced from the land they lived with for millennia
- Local communities dependent on the timber industry
- Conservation biologists and all people concerned with ecosystem integrity
- Wilderness defenders and public lands proponents
- Proponents of alternative management, especially Low Impact Forestry
- All committed to a healthy democracy
This group highlighted major problems and viable solutions for the region:
- The ecological, economic, and cultural impacts of clearcuts, herbicide applications, and intensive forestry practices
- The emerging crisis in the region’s paper industry and its consequences for local communities
- The warnings of conservation biologists to establish a robust network of ecological reserves to protect ecosystem integrity, biodiversity, and benefits
- The potential for Wilderness designations, federal land purchases, and national parks
In the inaugural issue, Gulf of Maine poet Gary Lawless, expressed NFF’s aspirations:
“I hope that we can try to speak for the great diversity of life within these regions…. that we will hear the local cultures, the local wisdom, the deep sense of place and connectedness expressed through many forms of language, from the scientific article to poetry, from interviews to artwork, all of it being part of the deep song of place.”
Why Make a Defunct Journal Available Today?
Most of the problems confronting the people, land and waters in the 1990s remain. It is time to read and work sustainable nature and human communities
Historical perspective on the Northern Forest Forum
- Reflections from Founder & First Editor – Jamie Sayen
- Reflections from Writer & Second Editor – Andrew Whittaker
- Reflections from Writer – Mitch Lansky
Subject Indices
Volume 1: Autumn Equinox, 1992 – Mid Summer 1993
- Volume 1: No. 1 (Autumn Equinox 1992) The Working Forest?
- Volume 1: No. 2 (Winter Solstice 1992) Buy Land – They Don’t Make It Anymore
- Volume 1: No. 3 (Spring Equinox 1993) Establish Ecological Reserves
- Volume 1: No. 4 (Mud Season 1993) A Mud Season Vision
- Volume 1: No. 5 (Wolf Restoration 1993) Wolves
- Volume 1: No. 6 (Mid Summer 1993) Finding Common Ground
Volume 2: Autumn Equinox 1993 – Mid Summer 1994
- Volume 2: No. 1 (Autumn Equinox 1993) Restoring the Northern Forest
- Volume 2: No. 2 (Winter Solstice 1993) Land For Sale
- Volume 2: No. 3 (Spring Equinox 1994) NFL Council Recommends Establishment of Ecological Reserves
- Volume 2: No. 4 (Council Listening Sessions 1994) Special Issue: Forum Critiques Northern Forest Lands Council’s “Draft Recommendations”
- Volume 2: No. 5 (Letter Writers Guide 1994) The Northern Forest – A Region Under Siege
- Volume 2: No. 6 (Mid Summer 1994) Maine Woods Up For Grabs – Again?
Volume 3: Mid Autumn 1994 – Mid Summer 1995
- Volume 3: No. 1 (Mid Autumn 1994) South African-Led Group Buys 900,000 Acres of Maine
- Volume 3: No. 2 (Winter Solstice 1994) Needed – An Ecological Sustainable Socially Responsible Regional Energy Policy
- Volume 3: No. 3 (Mid Winter 1995) Wildness
- Volume 3: No. 4 (Mud Season 1995) Industry Politicians Collude to Undermine Environmental Protection
- Volume 3: No. 5 (Headwaters Restoration 1995) 8 Million Acre HEADWATERS Wilderness Reserve System Proposed
- Volume 3: No. 6 (Mid Summer 1995) Toxic Vacationland Politics Poison Maine’s Waters
Volume 4: Autumn Equinox 1995 – Mid Summer 1996
- Volume 4: No. 1 (Autumn Equinox 1995) $Billions$ in Tax Breaks Proposed for Clearcutters
- Volume 4: No. 2 (Winter Solstice 1995) Maine Citizens’ Referendum to Ban Clearcutting Makes 1996 Ballot
- Volume 4: No. 3 (Mid Winter 1996) At Last, A Quantifiable Measure of Ecological Health – The index of Biological Integrity
- Volume 4: No. 4 (Mud Season 1996) Sears Cargo Port Proposal Abandoned by Maine’s Governor
- Volume 4: No. 5 (Summer Solstice 1996) Timber Industry: MaineStream Enviros Cut Deal to Scuttle Ban Clearcutting Referendum
- Volume 4: No. 6 (Mid Summer 1996) No Jobs on a Healthy Planet
Volume 5: Autumn Equinox 1996 – Autumn Equinox 1997
- Volume 5: No. 1 (Autumn Equinox 1996) No Immediate Shortfall From Referendum Study Shows
- Volume 5: No. 2 (Winter Solstice 1996) Mainers Vote to Change Current Forest Practices
- Volume 5: No. 3 (Mid Winter 1997) Citizen Activists Persuade VT Forest Advisory
- Volume 5: No. 4 (Mud Season 1997) Grassroots Activism Produces Impressive Results
- Volume 5: No. 5 (Summer Solstice 1997) Vermont Herbicide Victory Signals Ecological Sanity
- Volume 5: No. 6 (Autumn Equinox 1997) Negotiations For Whitney Adirondack Lands Intensify
Volume 6: Mid Autumn 1997 – Mid Summer 1998
- Volume 6: No. 1 (Mid Autumn 1997) Champion International To Sell 330,000 Acres
- Volume 6: No. 2 (Winter Solstice 1997) Future Prospects for the Northern Forest Resource Colony or Home to Stay?
- Volume 6: No. 3 (Mid Winter 1998) Global Warming & the Pulp and Paper Industry
- Volume 6: No. 4 (Mud Season 1998) Wild Ideas
- Volume 6: No. 5 (Summer Solstice 1998) A Forestry for the Northern Forest
- Volume 6: No. 6 (Mid Summer 1998) The Sale of the Century
Volume 7: Autumn 1998 – Autumn Equinox 1999
- Volume 7: No. 1 (Autumn 1998) The Politics of Wilderness: A Look at Zero Cut, Moderation & Other Options
- Volume 7: No. 2 (Winter Solstice 1998) Land Sales Rock Region
- Volume 7: No. 3 (Mid Winter 1999) Working Forest
- Volume 7: No. 4 (Mid Spring 1999) Ecological Restoration in the Northern Forest
- Volume 7: No. 5 (Summer 1999) Why Maine’s Atlantic Salmon Deserve ESA Protection
- Volume 7: No. 6 (Autumn Equinox 1999) The Seven Basic Needs
Volume 8: New Year’s 2000 – Candlemas 2001
- Volume 8: No. 1 (New Year’s 2000) Saving Biological Diversity in the Consumption Age
- Volume 8: No. 2 (Spring 2000) Endangered Species, Threatened Habitats
- Volume 8: No. 3 (Summer Solstice 2000) Globalism Consuming Forests, Subverting Labor, Setting the Agenda
- Volume 8: No. 4 (Mid Summer 2000) North Woods Profiles
- Volume 8: No. 5 (Fall 2000)
- Volume 8: No. 6 (Candlemas 2001) Managing the Allagash Wilderness
Volume 9: Fall 2001 – Winter Solstice 2002
- Volume 9: No. 1 (Fall 2001) NH’s Pittsburg Lands on the Block
- Volume 9: No. 2 (Winter 2002)
- Volume 9: No. 3 (Summer 2002) Beyond the Beauty Strip Revisited – Another Decade of Industrial Forestry
- Volume 9: No. 4 (Winter Solstice 2002) The Northern Appalachian/Acadian Forest: Sharing History, Nature & Landscape, Lake Ontario to the Gaspe