Timber Unity and other groups protest House Bill 2020. (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter)
Two members of a quickly rising political activist community of loggers have been invited to the White House for an afternoon talk on environmental policy by President Donald Trump.
Timber Unity, a group comprised mostly of loggers but also truckers, farmers and other Oregonians opposed to a carbon-regulating program being proposed by Oregon lawmakers, posted the invitation on their Facebook page Tuesday night. Within an hour the post had been shared more than 1,000 times.
The Facebook page for the group first posted June 21, and already has more than 47,000 members. It was the chief organizer of a large rally at the Capitol on Thursday, protesting House Bill 2020 which died at the end of the legislative session.
READ: Cap and trade opponents rumble into Salem for rally
The Timber Unity movement is purported to be purely grassroots, according to several Republican lawmakers and protesters. However they are in part financed by Stimson Lumber CEO Andrew Miller, who is prominent on their Facebook page and has a letter explaining his $5,000 seed donation on their website.
A GoFundMe campaign that popped up when the group was first getting organized was funded by several sympathetic industrial partners, though the group has moved to an embedded funding channel on their website.
Timber Unity’s website shows its organizers as three truckers; Jeff Leavy, Adam Lardy and Scott Hileman.
Marie Bowers, a farmer, and Todd Stoffel, a log truck driver, will be representing Timber Unity at the Washington, D.C. event.
Reporter Aubrey Wieber: [email protected] or 503-575-1251.
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