The number of timber and wood products jobs has declined continuously over the last several decades as automation has replaced manual tasks in the industry. Sustainable economic development will require, above all, local choices and local decisions. As the examples that follow suggest, the cornerstones of sustainability have already been laid. Oystering, the centerpiece of Willapa's tideland enterprises, actually enhances the diversity of the estuary. Oyster beds on the tideflats provide habitat for crabs, eelgrass, algae, and many marine invertebrates essential to a healthy ecosystem.
Oysters also filter water as they feed, improving water quality for young fish in the shallows.
Timberland owners have already modified forest practices to protect forest corridors along streams once scoured by splashdams and to reduce the downstream impacts of logging. The ecosystem and the human communities it supports have undergone extraordinary changes in the last 140 years. Choosing sustainability will link today's residents to the distant future and begin work that their grandchildren can continue with pride. Edward Wolf is the editor of numerous publications and serves as director of communications for Ecotrust. The Willapa Alliance is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to developing and implementing strategies for sustainable, conservation-based economic development in the Willapa ecosystem.