First published in High Country News, Sept. 16, 1985; the sawmill job had been in the late 1970s. Sawmill I: Working the Gate between Worlds In the realm of interesting things that confuse me and confusing things that interest me, the relationships between trees and humans are high on my list. As with almost all plant-and-animal relationships, we humans come off as dependents – we need the trees a lot more than the trees need us. At the most basic level there’s the oxygen they pump out. They aren’t the only source of oxygen on earth, but they are certainly an important one. This is some mutuality to this dependency since they need the carbon dioxide we generate – and we have become substantial generators of carbon dioxide; studies currently indicate that most tree species are appreciating this and are doing what they can to take care of all that extra carbon dioxide. But in all our … Read More