Environment: Artist with a 20-Lb. Saw

For 44 of his 64 years, Dale Page has been a cutter of trees, as was his father before him. He may have cleared as much of the ancient Northwest forest as any man. This day he is clear-cutting a three-acre patch of old growth. The area is designated as a possible spotted-owl habitat, but Page has never seen one of the birds. He stands among rhododendron, sword ferns and buckbrush, his body testimony to the perils of his work. The pitch of his chain saw screaming at 13,000 r.p.m. has left him hard of hearing, an upended log cost him...

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