Are Foresters Ethical?

Board of Directors
California Licensed Foresters Association
Hazel I. Jackson, Executive Director
P.O. Box 1516 Pioneer, CA 95666

Friday, November 6, 1998

Dear Board Members:

Russian River Residents Against Unsafe Logging is a watchdog group of concerned River and Sonoma County residents formed to publicly scrutinize timber harvesting in Sonoma County. RRRAUL is concerned about the ecological and economic health of the Russian River region and is alarmed about the potential impacts of improper logging practices upon the natural scenic beauties of the region and possibly disastrous repercussions for local business and tourism. While RRRAUL is not opposed to timber harvesting, per se, the group is concerned that timbering be conducted safely and wisely, and with environmental sensitivity. Public safety, county roads and waterways (including the Russian River and its tributaries) are of major concern; recent local timber harvest plans have drawn strong criticism.

Our group is hoping to begin a dialog with the professional forestry societies and others concerning professional forester responsibilities and accountability.

Our initial step is to ask the professional societies whether they have a person or committee designated to inquire into questions of professional competence and ethics demonstrated by their members. If your organization has such a person or group, we would be interested in the following:

1. What is his/her or the group's charge?

2. What is the process if questions arise concerning professional conduct of society members coming within its charges are received?

3. Who would be/have been the sources of such questions -- clients, public agencies, the public, other society members, or other?

4. Are there penalties, such as denial or revocation of membership in your society, if such questions arise and if the CLFA is ultimately convinced that serious acts of omission or commission have occurred?

5. Do possible grounds for CLFA action include business practices, forestry practices, or both, or involve other kinds of practices?

6. Has your organization been faced with situations involving professional misconduct, and if so were there actions taken by you as a result? (We are not asking who did what or what happened in any particular instance, only whether or not there have been such actions taken by the CLFA, and what type of action(s) they were).

7. We have heard that the CLFA adopted a code of ethics related to business practices, and we are aware of some very well-regarded workshops conducted by the CLFA; has the CLFA dealt with the problems of ethics and accountability in the practice of actual forestry? For example, do you sponsor or take part in courses at colleges, lecture series, and so forth, on the questions of professional forestry ethics, including responsibility of the RPF to not only the client but also to the public resources?

We hope you can spare the time to respond to us on these important questions; we consider the public has an important stake in the responsible performance of licensed foresters.

Respectfully,

Jay Halcomb

Chair, RRRAUL