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*Through the Just Forest Project we are working to improve enforcement of labor laws in ecosystem restoration contracting on public lands. Current contracting practices and U.S. immigration policy allow industry competition to depress wages and degrade working conditions. This means that workers are not always paid for the full number of hours they work, and sometimes they are not paid at all! Also, workers are transported in barely road worthy vans, are not given adequate safety training or equipment, have transportation, food and other expenses deducted from their pay, and are not provided health insurance coverage or other benefits. Many of these practices are illegal, and we are working closely with Region 6 (Oregon and Washington) of the Forest Service on assuring that companies contracting with the Forest Service comply with all labor laws.

*We are also working to improve worker health and safety. In our Green Jobs in the Woods project we are cooperating with the Labor Occupational Health Program at the University of California, Berkeley, and Lomakatsi Restoration Project on developing a pilot promotora program for forest workers in southern Oregon. Promotora programs, in which workers are trained as lay health promoters to educate their fellow workers about health and safety issues, have been successfully used with farm workers, but we know of no such programs that address the unique occupational hazards forest workers face. Forestry services is dangerous work: forest workers have injury and fatality rates that are much higher than average. This project empowers workers to prevent injuries, and even death, on the job.

* Our Crescent Lake Mushroom Monitoring Project protects Matsutake mushroom habitat and fosters sustainable harvest practices. In Crescent, Oregon, which has the most productive Matsutake habitat in the United States, the Alliance has been acting as a liaison between the Forest Service and the Cambodian, Mien, Laotian, English, and Spanish speaking harvesters for many years. Facilitating harvester input into Forest Service management plans has resulted in preserving Matsutake habitat and altering logging practices to lessen impacts on mushroom production. We are now collaborating with the Forest Service, Oregon State University, and the harvesters on a participatory research project that will test the effects of logging over snow (which the Forest Service is doing to minimize soil disturbance) and varying degrees of canopy removal on mushroom production.

In March, 2009, we adjusted our programs to stay current in addressing the issues and concerns of forest workers and harvesters in the Pacific Northwest. We now focus on three project areas.

Through the Just Forest Project we are working to improve enforcement of labor laws in ecosystem restoration contracting on public lands. Current contracting practices and U.S. immigration policy allow industry competition to depress wages and degrade working conditions. This means that workers are not always paid for the full number of hours they work, and sometimes they are not paid at all! Also, workers are transported in barely road worthy vans, are not given adequate safety training or equipment, have transportation, food and other expenses deducted from their pay, and are not provided health insurance coverage or other benefits. Many of these practices are illegal, and we are working closely with Region 6 (Oregon and Washington) of the Forest Service on assuring that companies contracting with the Forest Service comply with all labor laws.

We are also working to improve worker health and safety. In our Green Jobs in the Woods project we are cooperating with the Labor Occupational Health Program at the University of California, Berkeley, and Lomakatsi Restoration Project on developing a pilot promotora program for forest workers in southern Oregon. Promotora programs, in which workers are trained as lay health promoters to educate their fellow workers about health and safety issues, have been successfully used with farm workers, but we know of no such programs that address the unique occupational hazards forest workers face. Forestry services is dangerous work: forest workers have injury and fatality rates that are much higher than average. This project empowers workers to prevent injuries, and even death, on the job.

Our Crescent Lake Mushroom Monitoring Project protects Matsutake mushroom habitat and fosters sustainable harvest practices. In Crescent, Oregon, which has the most productive Matsutake habitat in the United States, the Alliance has been acting as a liaison between the Forest Service and the Cambodian, Mien, Laotian, English, and Spanish speaking harvesters for many years. Facilitating harvester input into Forest Service management plans has resulted in preserving Matsutake habitat and altering logging practices to lessen impacts on mushroom production. We are now collaborating with the Forest Service, Oregon State University, and the harvesters on a participatory research project that will test the effects of logging over snow (which the Forest Service is doing to minimize soil disturbance) and varying degrees of canopy removal on mushroom production.