We actively encourage anyone from the forest community to join: loggers, tree planters, contractors, lobbyists, mill workers, analysts, economists, urban foresters, watershed coordinators, government assistance people, etc.  Part of the point of FTGC is to increase understanding between the various silos in forestry.

All are welcome as long as they love trees. It’s fine to invite partners, friends, and family to the happy hour, but the focus of conversations should remain on forestry issues. If friends and family want to talk forests, then they are welcome. FTG was created as a space specifically for progressive forestry professionals, but we do not discriminate on age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, political beliefs, career status, marital status, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, socioeconomic status, language, mental/physical ability, nor learning styles.

We meet as a happy hour, but it should be clear that drinking alcohol is not required. We NEVER ask someone why they aren’t drinking (alcohol). 

We try to choose central locations so people can stop by after work and/or bike or take public transit rather than drive (if desired).

At FTGC, your voice is your own, not your employer’s, or any other entity you may be part of.

We do not use the FTGC mailing list for endorsement. Brief promotion of outside events, jobs, petitions, etc. is okay in-person at meetings.

Free To Grow Coalition stands (groups) are separate from each other. All should follow these guidelines, but meeting frequency, style, and organization are up to each stand.

We will not be bought or subsumed by other forestry entities. The energy that we attract is what well established forestry organizations have been struggling to harness for years. Members of those entities are welcome to attend, but those entities cannot take over FTGC. The space for genuine and vulnerable discussions is precious, and the most powerful aspect of this group, and it needs to be defended as such.

Call it as you see it while still being respectful. Free To Grow Coalition is the space to generativity critique the system we work within. We will soon be the leaders with the responsibility, and power to change the system.

We will not entertain discussions on existence or causes of climate change. Human-caused climate change is established science, and we are long past spending time or energy debating that fact. We need that energy and engagement to vision and plan for how forests can be a more robust sequestration method and thrive in the future. We are the stewards of the OG carbon capturing devices, and we need to lead the change towards increasing their utility for carbon capture while balancing the need for a robust forest products market. As stated in the inclusivity section above, we welcome all political beliefs, but climate science is not political — it is fact. This does not mean that climate deniers are not welcome at FTGC, but they are not welcome to take up discussion time about causes or existence of climate change.

The most successful forestry initiatives and projects balance multiple objectives. Forestry is complicated and nuanced. FTGC is THE place to explore those nuances, and challenge ourselves to walk the middle path between preservation and tree farming that does not respect the Earth. Media and the polarized oppositions like to create a binary between cutting everything in massive clearcuts and protecting every tree. We know there is so much room between those endpoints and that’s what brings us together, to highlight and explore the balance that forestry as a whole seeks to achieve.

Be welcoming, be curious, be kind (not just nice).

Conversations can get rowdy while drinking, but try not to interrupt.

Prioritize learning other people’s viewpoints before promoting your own. Realize that if you are being triggered by your perspective being challenged, that that is more indicative of a likely conflict within you. Take this as an opportunity to learn and grow and investigate the source of that trigger in your own time.

Remember that we are all here because we work in forestry, thus we earn our living doing what we believe is right in the woods. Therefore, defensiveness of our work is the typical response, but we want to set that aside in this place of learning each other’s perspectives and experiences.

Economy is contained within ecology.  Ecology is not a side issue. Conversations should acknowledge that we are humbled by and work within the bounds of Mother Nature.