Olympic Forest Coalition Heroine: Bonnie Phillips
Bonnie Phillips’ inspiration began when she discovered her love for hiking the wilderness. Early in the 1980s she moved to the Pacific Northwest from Wisconsin because she wanted to climb bigger mountains. Just as she began discovering some of our area’s most magnificent wilderness, she was afflicted with a type of rheumatism that forced her to use a wheelchair the majority of the time.
From her wheelchair, she turned to activism and advocacy. She educated herself on Old Growth Forests and how logging practices affected watersheds. This was very timely because shortly thereafter, Bonnie found herself right in the middle of the spotted owl wars.
I can best describe Bonnie as a contemporary warrior of enviable courage. Bonnie dared to face, often times alone, the loggers and timber industry supporters of the Pacific Northwest. While on her wheelchair traversing forest roads, she had to go off the road to avoid being run over by logging trucks more than once – who were not slowing down.
But all of these defensive actions did not stop Bonnie from speaking out against the decimation of the old growth areas that nurtured and protected the spotted owl and other wildlife. In the early 1990s when the Federal government took initial steps to list the spotted owl as an endangered species, it provoked the sort of hysteria in timber towns seldom seen in the United States except in wartime. These small communities unleashed propaganda against the foreign forces of “evil” environmentalists befriending the bird.
Suddenly, there were bumper stickers displaying such slogans as I LOVE SPOTTED OWLS FRIED and SHOOT AN OWL, SAVE A LOGGER. And many other such slogans.
Bonnie found herself in the right place at the right time – in other words, right in the middle of the battlefield. She was a plaintiff representative on the Northern Spotted Owl and Marbled Murrelet lawsuits.
Not being a shrinking violet, she confronted opposition at meetings, received many phone threats to her life. A local paper labeled her “Eco Nazi”. None of this stopped the fiery red-haired woman with a spirit to match.
She continued meeting with groups, organized panels, coordinated meetings and protests, spent time in D.C. lobbying for Old Growth and spearheaded the formation of WA Ancient Forest Alliance (grassroots forest activists) – and gained the respect of the Forest Service.
She went on to work with Pilchuck Audubon Society and National Audubon Society.
In the late 1990s she became Campaign Coordinator for the Forest Water Alliance, a 21-member coalition in Washington, Oregon and Northern California.
She became a power in Washington’s forest protection politics. Time Magazine named her as a Hero for the Planet in their December 1998 issue.
Bonnie was executive director of Olympic Forest Coalition, an organization I’m proud to serve as volunteer board member. But to me and many others who respect and admired Bonnie for her incredible efforts and dedication to Daichi Sen (Mother Earth), she will always be a Heroine.
Connie Gallant, President
From our OFC newsletter, Heroines_Feb2013