New strategy to save forests: logging

Stumps and slash piles are the tallest things on this forestland less than 30 miles from the Space Needle as the crow flies. Clear-cut two years ago, this is the sort of sight that not long ago would have riled most environmentalists. But the white hats are on new heads these days. Conservationists are partnering with timber companies on deals, and environmentalists are praising "working forests," the friendly new term for clear-cuts — in order to stave off development. It's a shotgun wedding born of duress, as sprawl, slowed only temporarily by recession, chews away at the last green places holding the Puget Sound ecosystem together. For any timber company, real estate — especially sales of developable land — is what brings in the big money. Since the 1970s, more than 1.2 million acres of privately owned forestland have been converted to development in Washington...SeattleTimes