Along the River's Run

Along the River's Run Set in the redwood forest of northwestern California this historical work of fiction takes the reader back to 1968 when the primeval landscape and the majestic redwood trees faced extinction. The three main characters find self-realization and true friendship as fate interweaves their destinies in the struggle to prevent the wanton destruction of the redwood forest by logging interests. The Congressional Bill to establish a Redwood National Park and preserve the...
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Along the River's Run Set in the redwood forest of northwestern California this historical work of fiction takes the reader back to 1968 when the primeval landscape and the majestic redwood trees faced extinction. The three main characters find self-realization and true friendship as fate interweaves their destinies in the struggle to prevent the wanton destruction of the redwood forest by logging interests. The Congressional Bill to establish a Redwood National Park and preserve the great redwood forest teeters on the brink of failure in the House of Representatives. Power, greed and special interests intent upon stopping or shrinking the Redwood National Park into oblivion impose their will to enable the complete removal of the redwood forest for profit. While the law that would establish a Redwood National Park stumbles and stalls in the hands of politicians the logging operations intensify. New roads are constructed that bring the last redwood forest within the reach of modern logging operations, enabling specialized equipment and many men to maximize the harvest. The logging operation clear-cuts every tree from the ridgelines into the deep river valleys then drags the massive trees to a fleet of heavy trucks, ripping away at the heart of the envisioned Redwood National Park. It was generally believed that clear-cut forest would easily grow back through replanting and reseeding. The belief was supported by scientists and experts from academia. The voices that challenged the notions of authority had been silenced; the last redwood forest on earth found on Redwood Creek was in the fulcrum of progress. One voice would not be silenced; she was a brilliant young student completing her master's degree. Her field research from within the redwood forest proved that clear-cut practices destroyed the entire ecology of the primeval landscape and the redwood trees. The reseeding and replanting of clear-cut forest areas, extoled by the logging industry, was proven by her research to be a wrongful assertion. Logging on the massive scale already in motion for several years was eradicating the redwood forest along every river valley in its path; only Redwood Creek remained. She was determined to stop the logging and prevent the outcome proven by her research; that the redwood forest would become extinct at the hands of unrestricted logging methods. The logged out redwood forest would never return.Armed with her research and the truth she proceeds on a course to inform politicians in the hope that the logging permits would be revoked or suspended. On the path to that meeting she encounters and befriends two college students turned cowboys who have found an emotional tie to the redwood forest in their search for a place to coexist beyond their troubled pasts. The cowboys have journeyed along entirely different life courses but are in search of some inner meaning without pretense or hostility. They have also sensed the majesty of the redwood forest and the threat to its survival. The three form a union of spirit and purpose to somehow stop the extinction of the redwood forest. Today the last redwood forest on earth stands in the valley and mountainsides of Redwood Creek in northwestern California. Amidst the turmoil of great events the Redwood National Park was created in 1968. Somehow the idea to preserve the giant trees and the primeval landscape survived the ravages of modern progress. The tallest beings on earth are protected by law and overseen by the global conscience of the United Nations and the Geneva Convention. How the redwoods survived is a mystery, a page of history lost in the time. This novel pieces together the history shredded away from a time of great events and offers a sense of understanding how the redwood forest survived the frailty of mankind. The three friends give themselves over to fate and take the reader on a journey of discovery that will hopefully inspire a greater sense of purpose in all of us.