Shannon Wilson

“I can go to places where trees are still standing because I was there to make it happen,” Shannon Wilson says. “I’ve been involved in stopping 20 to 30 timber sales, mostly in western Oregon.” When he was 8, Wilson’s parents moved from Santa Rosa, California, where his three older brothers were getting into parties and fights, to rural southern Oregon, four miles from Selma in the Siskiyou Mountains. He learned to identify birds and trees. At 14, he joined an environmental group fighting a proposed nickel strip mine on nearby Eight Dollar Mountain. “It set the direction for the rest of my life,” he says. He got a two-year degree in forestry and a job with the Forest Service, locating Northern spotted owl nests in the Umpqua National Forest. “The district ranger was breaking the law in multiple ways,” he says. “I quit and called the whistleblower hot line, but nothing happened.” Wilson moved to Eugene in 1991 and found seasonal work with the BLM, surveying marbled murrelets in the Siuslaw drainage. He also began working with the Oregon Natural Resources Council and South Willamette Earth First! When he again found “shady stuff going on,” he quit the BLM in 1994. Since 1995, when President Clinton signed the “logging without laws” Salvage Rider, sparking the Warner Creek Blockade, he has worked without pay as a grassroots organizer, defending ancient forests. His own nonprofit, EcoAdvocates NW, launched in 1998, has recently put up billboards and radio ads to admonish Sen. Ron Wyden, along with other Democrats and environmental NGOs, for backing legislation that undermines environmental standards to accommodate increased logging. Look for his big green pickup (it runs on veggie oil) with the billboard in the back.

A Note From the Publisher

Dear Readers,

The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.

That’s because of you!

Not just because of financial support (though that matters enormously), but because of the emails, notes, conversations, encouragement and ideas you shared along the way. You reminded us why this paper exists and who it’s for.

Listening to readers has always been at the heart of Eugene Weekly. This year, that meant launching our popular weekly Activist Alert column, after many of you told us there was no single, reliable place to find information about rallies, meetings and ways to get involved. You asked. We responded.

We’ve also continued to deepen the coverage that sets Eugene Weekly apart, including our in-depth reporting on local real estate development through Bricks & Mortar — digging into what’s being built, who’s behind it and how those decisions shape our community.

And, of course, we’ve continued to bring you the stories and features many of you depend on: investigations and local government reporting, arts and culture coverage, sudoku and crossword puzzles, Savage Love, and our extensive community events calendar. We feature award-winning stories by University of Oregon student reporters getting real world journalism experience. All free. In print and online.

None of this happens by accident. It happens because readers step up and say: this matters.

As we head into a new year, please consider supporting Eugene Weekly if you’re able. Every dollar helps keep us digging, questioning, celebrating — and yes, occasionally annoying exactly the right people. We consider that a public service.

Thank you for standing with us!