Author: <span>Lauren Lafleur</span>

When policy makers actually listen.

The key lesson I learned during my internship is that public engagement with the government is realistic and necessary in environmental politics. For example, I learned that I am capable of getting a meeting with the head of the forestry department. I am welcomed to sit at the table. I …

horse-trad·ing (hôrs tr d ng). n. Negotiation characterized by hard bargaining and shrewd exchange: political horse-trading.

I work for the North Coast State Forest Coalition, out of the Oregon Chapter Sierra Club Office in Portland, Oregon In 2011, the Oregon Department of Forestry revised the State Forest Management Plan to include an increase in clear-cut targets and less old growth conservation plans. Soon thereafter, the North …