Don Smith has stepped out on a limb.But the executive director of the Siskiyou Regional Education Project, a group known for taking tough stands to protect the environment, figures the branch is strong enough.

Concerned about the debate heating up over salvaging trees in the Biscuit fire area, and about the national attention brought by Greenpeace activists, Smith helped create the Illinois Valley Round Table — a group of a dozen residents representing everything from the environmental camp to the timber industry.

The group hopes to head off potential confrontation in the local woods this summer.

"We’re all members of the same community, all neighbors," Smith explained. "It’s imperative we have good communications, and not allow our disputes to come between us.

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"We’re taking a proactive stance to head off a potential problem this summer," he added. "This is a step forward."

Fellow round table member Jennifer Phillippi, whose family owns the Rough and Ready Lumber Co. in the Illinois Valley, agreed.

"Nothing but good can come from talking," she said. Her husband, Link, is also a round table member.

The mission of the group, co-founded by Ron Phillips, executive director of the Illinois Valley Community Response Team, is to simply learn to work together as a community, not to find solutions to the world’s problems, participants say. Phillips was traveling in Africa and could not be reached for comment.

"We all acknowledge we are not going to agree across the board, but that doesn’t rule out being able to carry on conversations with each other," Smith said. "Too often conflicts build upon each other, creating more serious problems. We’re thinking long-term to build better relations in the valley."

But veteran environmental activist Steve Marsden, former head of the Siskiyou Project and a current member of the Sierra Club, questions whether fears of potential violence alluded to by the group are well founded.

"My concern is that any talk of violence seems to be emanating from this group," said the Illinois Valley resident. "I don’t hear any talk of violence coming from protesters or Greenpeace.

"The history of civil disobedience in this area has always been one of non-violence," he added.

Ginger Cassady, a forest campaign spokeswoman for Greenpeace, said her organization has a history of non-violent civil disobedience.

"They are breeding fear unnecessarily," she said of the Round Table. "There is no factual backing that there could be violence this summer."

Greenpeace activists haven’t felt threatened since arriving in the area last month, she said.

"But it really concerns me when these type of allegations are raised," she said, noting the allegations themselves could spark an atmosphere for violence.

Regardless, Greenpeace intends to stay the course in its local efforts to stop the logging of old-growth trees on public lands, she said.

"These are public lands — everyone deserves a seat at the table," she said. "That’s why we’re here. Our campaign will continue."

Yet Dominick DellaSala, director of the World Wildlife Fund’s Klamath-Siskiyou Regional Program based in Ashland, doesn’t have any problems with the Round Table project.

"This is a positive step," he said. "Having respectful dialogue and being civil about our differences can only help."

But he acknowledges his view isn’t shared by all environmental activists.

"You have to remember the (environmental) community in general is a broad spectrum," he said. "It’ll definitely raise some eyebrows."

Not the eyebrows of Selma residents Mort Mondale and his wife, Elaine Wood, both Sierra Club members.

"Talking is always better than not talking," Mondale said. "Polarization in this place is a very serious problem. Don is trying to do something about it.

"A group like that can sit down and seek improvement, rather than victory," he said.

Wood agreed.

"Absolutely," she said, adding, "We’re at an impasse here right now."

Forest Service employee Judy McHugh, spokeswoman for the Biscuit Fire Recovery Project, also applauds the effort.

"On a personal level, I’ve always felt this is how communities prosper with residents recognizing they are different and communicating without rancor," said the Illinois Valley resident. "The agency embraces that."

Pam Bode, ranger in charge of the Illinois Valley and Galice ranger districts, echoed McHugh’s sentiment.

"It’s an important first step in declaring that the Illinois Valley is or wants to be a community where dialogue is respectful, where people can agree to disagree, where we look for common ground," she said. "We are urging people to find nonviolent solutions to disagreements. We’re very concerned that human lives could be hurt or people’s property damaged."

In an e-mail to the Mail Tribune, Round Table member Bob Rodriguez, editor and publisher of the weekly Illinois Valley News for some two decades, stressed the group wants to head off any violence or damage to the social fabric.

Noting local residents endured the 2002 Biscuit fire as well as the 1987 Longwood fire near Takilma, Rodriguez indicated valley residents have bonded despite their differences.

The Round Table reflects both their diversity and their desire to live together in peace, he wrote.

"It is our community, and we’ll still be here when all the outside shouting is concluded," he wrote. "The idea is, ‘OK, come and do your thing, but realize that we are working continuously for mutual understanding and respect.’ "

Phillippi, who endorses the goals of the group to avoid confrontation, noted she wasn’t overly concerned about the potential for violence.

Like Rodriguez, she said local residents generally try to get along with each other, no matter what their political persuasion.

"When the new Forest Service and new environmental people talk about getting past the violence of the past, I have to say I’ve never seen any violence here," she said.

Phillippi, whose grandparents started the mill in the early 1920s, said the debate will further impact the region, just as it has already impacted the firm.

The sawmill, the last one operating in Josephine County, has cut its employees from 225 to 75 in the past two decades, she said.

"We used to be in a good spot with federal forests all around us," she said, adding, "When the spotted owl (issue) came along, everything changed."

Longtime valley resident Susan Chapp, executive director of the Forestry Action Committee who has joined the Round Table, said she became convinced the effort was needed after hearing what she described as "conservatives talking about shooting Greenpeace people."

While she didn’t know whether they were merely letting off political steam, she figured something should be done to relieve the pressure.

"This is a huge step forward," she said. "It’s the first time I’m aware of that the valley is asserting itself as a community."

Chapp acknowledged the group faces a challenge.

"If it were easy, it would have already been done," she said, noting her committee was formed 13 years ago as part of a project started by former Siskiyou National Forest supervisor Mike Lund to try to get people to work together.

Still, she says the Round Table is already making inroads.

"People are thinking of themselves as a community now — that in itself is a success," she said.

Longtime environmental activist David Bayles, executive director of the Eugene-based Pacific Rivers Council, has watched similar peace-making efforts by diverse factions over the years.

"They always seem to be successful to the degree they are a forum to discuss the issues, more than managing the ecosystem," he observed. "If you force them to manage a resource, they go back to the same polarity. They become the usual gladiators.

"But if they check their guns at the door and come in to discuss issues, they have promise," he added.

Smith hopes everyone will check their guns at the door to join in the round table discussion.

"As a group we recognize we’re not going to agree on everything but we insist on civil dialogue," he reiterated. "We want to start constructing solutions instead of constantly bickering with one another."

Making a statement

The following is the statement forged by the group for those visiting the area because of the proposed salvage:

"Welcome to our community. While we respect your right to express your views on the Biscuit Fire final Environmental Impact Statement and Records of Decision, we urge you to do so peacefully and in a way that respects the property and all the people of the Illinois Valley.

We lived through the Biscuit Fire and will be here once you have returned home.

"Although we don’t always agree on natural resource issues, we are learning as a community to disagree respectfully and to find solutions we can support. Loggers, mill workers, Forest Service staff, environmentalists and concerned citizens are all neighbors; each represents pieces of the patchwork quilt that is the fabric of our community.

"Do express yourself while you are here, but please do not interrupt the dialogue developing among us – in fact, you might even want to listen in."

Biscuit salvage: A look at the plan

The salvage timber to be harvested will be available for logging as soon as it is sold.

Early this month, the agency announced it had selected an alternative in its final environmental impact statement that allows the salvage of 370 million board feet of fire-killed timber on about 19,400 acres from the roughly half-million acres burned by the fire.

In addition, the agency proposed to increase the 180,000-acre Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area in the forest by 64,000 acres. However, only Congress can create a wilderness area.

Conroy estimated the proposal would provide wood to build 24,000 moderately sized homes, creating up to 6,900 jobs and generating up to $240 million in income. About 100 million board feet could be harvested this summer and fall, he said.

Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at pfattig@mailtribune.com