FINDING AGREEMENT AMONG THE DISAGREEABLE

posted by Michael Chihak

From the truth is stranger than fiction department: A half-dozen organizations with widely different and conflicting points of view came together and agreed on something.

Not just anything. Something significant. In this era of I'm right and you're wrong and never the twain shall meet politics, this isn't just any news. This is big news.

As Tucson's Morris K. and Stewart L. Udall Foundation describes it, the groups agreed on a plan to jointly restore forest ecosystems in a method that will reduce wildfire threats and strengthen local economies in four of Arizona’s national forests.

The agreeable groups include the timber industry, environmental organizations, scientists, recreational interests, local governments and officials of the four national forests.

Now here's even bigger news: What they agreed to is working. Parts of the forests that have been restored in the manner prescribed in what is known as the Four Forest Restoration Initiative were the least damaged in this summer's record-setting wildfires in Arizona.

The agreement was reached in February and will be rolled out over the next two decades. At the time, it got some publicity but not the kind of fanfare that would point up the bigger picture of what this means.

That is, how did this agreement come about? Through hard work, listening, open mindedness, willingness to compromise for the sake of true solutions.

The cynic in me wants to say that the key factor was that likely, no elected officials were involved. You know, those folks with one eye on the next election and the other on their intractable dogmas.

Let’s hope enough of them noticed this and took note of what the makings of it were. Perhaps it will lead them come up with all manner of solutions to significant issues that the country faces.