In 1981, the Oregon Wilderness Coalition held a fair and fundraising auction at the Lane County Fairgrounds. I passed out brochures encouraging people to take Amtrak on their next wilderness adventure and bought a river trip for two on Idaho’s Middle Fork of the Salmon River. Unfortunately, someone also stole my Raleigh International bicycle, a Campagnolo-equipped classic from the early 1970s.
At about the same time, the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund (SCLDF) asked me to testify in a court case about Alaska state forests. This wasn’t really my first paying client, but I think they paid me more than I had been paid before. At least, the fee they paid was enough to replace my Raleigh with a nice up-to-date Trek with Dura-Ace components.
SCLDF had already hired Gordon Robinson to review the state’s timber management plan, and all they really wanted me to do was corroborate his analysis. Gordon and I flew up to Juneau together — it was my first time up in an airplane — and watched the mountains of Southeast Alaska from the window. Later, SCLDF chartered a small plane and flew us over state lands and, incidentally, glaciers, mountains, and fjords. It was all very pretty, but had nothing to do with my testimony. Continue reading
