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Dennis Lueck. M.A. <br /> Urban Forester Horticutturalist Naturalist <br /> 13 December 1990 <br /> Dear Eugene Tree Commissioners: <br /> I care a great deal about our community's natural environment, and I <br /> believe that the Eugene Tree Commission can play an important role in <br /> improving that envirorunent. It may, therefore, come as some surprise <br /> that, effective this December 31st, I am resigning from the Commission. <br /> There are two reasons for my decision. <br /> First, unlike other commissioners, I do not have the luxury of another <br /> job, or a spouse, to provide me with a living so I might volunteer my <br /> time for good causes such as this one. My gross annual income has never <br /> exceeded $10,000, yet I chose to volunteer many hundreds of hours over <br /> the past few years to do inventories, develop and lead walking tours, <br /> prepare soil maps, speak to assemblies of schoolchildren, and much more, <br /> simply because this important work needed to be done. There will <br /> continue to be a great need for such work, but I can no longer volunteer <br /> to do it. <br /> Second, as a commissioner, I have been both enlightened and increasingly <br /> disturbed by my exposure to local politics and to what is euphemistically <br /> described as "political reality." Much of that reality is at odds with <br /> what I believe to be right, proper, truthful, and fair. And rather than <br /> work in such a politicized environment, I choose instead to withdraw <br /> from it. <br /> I assure you that my days will not be idle as a result of this decision. <br /> Rather than expend energy on volunteer projects, I plan to focus on my <br /> consulting business, my new book on urban forest ecosystems of the <br /> Northwest, and my ever - popular field classes in natural history. <br /> Commission members and City staff share the responsibility for helping <br /> to change public attitudes, as well as our own, about how we might best <br /> live within our natural environment. As resilient as Nature is, it <br /> cannot much longer withstand the many abuses we heap upon it. For the <br /> sake of Eugene's urban forest, upon which our community's health depends, <br /> and for the sake of our planet, upon which' our very existence depends, <br /> I wish you all the very best. <br /> Yours sincerely, <br /> Dennis Lueck <br /> 360 Owosso Drive Eugene Oregon 97404 -2631 USA <br /> Telephone 503.689.6215. <br />