Message-ID: <852567F2.004CD5B5.00@nthhqsmtp.hud.gov> Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 09:56:55 -0400 From: "Michael O. Patterson" <mailto:Michael_O._Patterson@HUD.GOV> Subject: cooperation vs. competition To: mailto:DEVEL-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
I share this story as a model. Steven Covey likes to, before arm-wrestling
someone from the audience, talk that audience into offering, say, 1c
a head for each time an arm is forced down in a 30 second period.
Then he talks the other fellow into going limp, and he can get
usually 30 points for each side for a total of 60 points, in that 30
seconds. Those who compete might get 2 points, maybe 4, in that same
30 seconds. What is the difference between cooperation and
competition? 60 points to 2. In other words, cooperation is 30 times
as productive as competition.
The below story illustrates this. Let's recall that the issues involved
are very polarizing. But if they can learn to cooperate, surely
so can we, in less polarized contests, don't you think?
In October, 1998, the U.S. Congress approved a 5 year pilot project for 3
national forests around
Quincy, California, after 6 years of lobbying, that allowed for some
logging as it protected
several environmentally sensitive areas. A never before seen collaboration
between loggers, environmentalists,
and federal officials created it.
In the 1980's, the U.S. Forest Service was approving clear cuts and new
logging roads that upset
natural drainage and destroyed fish habitat. Several environmental groups
attempted to stop the worst
of the damage caused by the logging. The Forest Service rejected their
proposals, so they filed
many appeals of timber sales, which at least slowed them down, though they
also put loggers out of work.
There were fights and threats. Loggers blamed environmentalists,
environmentalists blamed the Forest Service and loggers, and people in the
town were completely polarized. Bullet holes appeared one day in the
window of an environmentalist lawyer's office. More than $100,000 in
damage was done to logging equipment.
Bill Coates, of the county board of supervisors, considered the problems
with the shutdowns- a quarter of logging
revenue went to the country for roads, and schools, and interruptions
caused difficulties all around. He had
long sided with the loggers for revenue reasons. He called the most
visible environmentalist, Michael Jackson, and told him it was time to put
aside the hatred. They met, and talked about what they COULD agree on.
They moved to the library, at Jackson's wife's suggestion, because at least
they couldn't yell at each other. The library proved to be an ideal
meeting
place- it was quite neutral, and as the Quincy Library Group expanded, they
liked the idea of the enforced quiet.
They left out the Forest Service. In 1993, they created a Community
Stability proposal, that would replace
clear-cutting with "Group Selection" logging, which left larger trees
standing, protected animal habitat,
and even created buffer zones for streams. Local mills were given first
call on trees, and the total harvest
was kept to under 200 million board feet per year. A long term goal was
established, of restoring the forest
to its state prior to when logging began. [American corporations can't
even see beyond the next quarter, much less the end
of their fiscal year; long range goals are revolutionary] The forest now
has almost no understory, because
regular fires are used to burn it away, to keep it from building up to
dangerous levels. 100 years of fire suppression
has made many U.S. forests very susceptible to catastrophic forest fires
that wipe out wildlife, topsoil, and even the
tall trees that would normally survive a fire. Fire prevention was
important not only to the loggers, but
to environmentalists.
The Forest Service was at first not receptive, until a bill was passed to
force it to put the Library Group plan into action.
The harshest test was the 1995 "Salvage Rider" bill, allowing "salvage" of
dead and dying trees.
There were no takers for bids in Quincy forests- the loggers kept their
word. Acting Regional Forester
Brad Powell later applauded local community involvement, and stated he
wanted local groups all over the
state to get involved, to help create sustainable forests. Bill Coates
notes that the major single source of income in outlying towns, where
logging used to provide most of the employement, is welfare checks. He
notes that you have to have to keep the fabric of community together, to
preserve infrastructure like hospitals, and schools, and law enforcement,
and that the only way to do that is for people to find what interests they
have in common, cooperate, and work for the good of all.