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Dear Barker,
 Big news: as reported in the Oregonian on July 4th, Bark and allied organizations settled a national lawsuit that will keep the Palomar Pipeline from ever crossing Mt. Hood National Forest!
And in case you missed it, last month Terry Swier, a prominent water activist in Michigan, came to Oregon and delivered a message of warning to the people of Cascade Locks and to nearly 300 people in downtown Portland.
Sincerely,
Alex P Brown, Executive Director
PS- Now’s a good time to check the Bark Summer School calendar for details of the next big Mt. Hood events. My Hood is Your Hood takes place July 13th at Buckman School and features local dancers paying homage to our urban forest!
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Bark-Out: Bagby management has been privatized, but it’s not too late to make a splash!
Bark-About: Wildflowers, wilderness, and logging, oh my!
Giving Tree: Bark t-shirts are here!
Bark Tales: Two Drew University interns partner with Bark this summer
Bark Bites: The Forest Service calls 10,000 acres of logging in the Clackamas Watershed “restoration” -- we call it deforestation.
Bark Burns: The human toll of fire suppression
Bark-Out
Don’t let recreation on public lands take a backseat to logging!
 Bagby Hot Springs, free to the public since time immemorial, has delighted visitors with its rustic charm and unique character. However, last week management of Bagby was transferred to the for-profit company California Land Management, which immediately began charging fees for soaking. In April, Bark appealed the Forest Service’s decision to privatize management of Bagby and the last remaining 27 publicly operated recreation sites in Mt. Hood National Forest. Although our appeal was recently denied, we are not done fighting privatization of public recreation and we need your help!
While the Forest Service sites lack of funding as justification for privatizing management of recreation sites, it continues to plan costly timber sales that use more taxpayer money than they recoup. We need a priorities shift on public land management. Senator Wyden is the chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests that has the power to increase funding for recreation. Tell him we want recreation, not commercial logging, prioritized on public land.
Also- we want to hear from you! Give a little love to Bagby. Visit the springs for a soak, and give us a call at 503-331-0374 to report your experience!
Bark-About
Wildflowers and new logging proposals bloom in Zigzag
 Join herbalist Missy Rohs and naturalist Candace Larson on a visit to the Lolo Pass recreation corridor on Mt. Hood. Significant new logging is being proposed in this area, threatening recreation access, scenic values and hard-won road removal efforts in this area. We'll also hike the beautiful Top Spur trail to Bald Mountain, learn about summer wildflowers and medicinal plants, and talk about what you can do to help protect Mt. Hood National Forest from destructive logging.
Please, no off-leash dogs, to protect the delicate wildflowers we will be enjoying.
Bark-Abouts are led on the second Sunday of every month and are free to the public. Click here for more information about this month’s hike.
Giving Tree
Get your Bark t-shirts while they last!
 Bark only prints t-shirts every blue moon, so now’s a good time to visit the office and pick up a new shirt. We’ve got three new prints: Bark’s classic logo print, one of the short-run Bark Summer School shirts, and a “My Hood is Your Hood” print with a unique Mt. Hood sketch by Ursula K. LeGuin. Only $15-$25 each!
The Bark office is close-in SE Portland (205 SE Grand Ave, Suite 207). Come on by and get your Bark t-shirt while they last!
Bark Tales
Drew University brings more smarts to Bark
 Bark is partnering with Drew University this summer to host two internships with students whose studies align with our work. Our first intern, Kara Pennino (pictured right), recently completed her internship and left behind a great body of work. Kara brought her research on how environmental sustainability and economic growth interact to the Gorge, to talk with business owners in Cascade Locks about Nestle’s bottled water proposal. You can stop by the Bark office to check out her work researching sustainable business models in small towns. Thanks, Kara!
Meanwhile, Drew Professor Sara Webb has been working with Bark to develop protocol for monitoring logged areas in Mt. Hood National Forest. Stay tuned to learn more about her work and to get involved with this important post-logging monitoring!
Bark Bites
Can commercial logging solve the problems caused by commercial logging?
 The Forest Service is planning commercially driven industrial extraction projects in Mt. Hood National Forest and calling it “restoration logging.” These timber sales require massive networks of roads, use all the industrial infrastructure of an old-growth clearcut, leave a network of scars on the forest landscape, and yet are touted as restoration by the Forest Service. We know that commercially logging our forests does not heal them, but is it possible that “restoration logging” is equally as harmful as clearcutting?
You can learn more and join in the conversation on July 25th at the event Defending Mt. Hood: Past and Present. This is a Bark Summer School event with Bark’s staff attorney and NEPA coordinator, Brenna Bell, discussing the question: Can commercial logging solve the problems caused by commercial logging?
Bark Burns
The high cost of wildfire suppression
With the recent loss of four members of the Air National Guard whose plane crashed en route to a fire in South Dakota’s Black Hills, we are reminded of how severe the human toll of suppressing wildland fire is. According to the United States Forest Service and Department of Interior, 82 people died fighting wildland fire between 2000-2010. The news media and our elected officials focus on the high profile plane crashes, like the sad example in South Dakota, and ask if we need to buy new planes or more planes. But no one is asking the tough question….
What do you think? Is it worth putting people’s lives at risk to fight wildland fire if the fire is not an immediate threat to another human life?
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Forest Service Helps Restore Fish to Oregon Stream 
On the afternoon of Friday, February 8th nearly 200 Oregonians put on their finest red clothing and joined Bark and the Keep Nestlé Out of the Gorge Coalition in Lower Macleay Park to take a stand against Nestlé’s grab at public water resources in the Columbia River Gorge. 