61-A voice for the troubled timber communities in Western Washington
The timber industry in the Pacific Northwest fell victim to a catastrophic downturn in the early 1990s. Many timber communities in Western Washington experienced severe economic hardship. Archbishop Murphy was invited to be a panelist at the Northwest Forest Conference where he participated in a roundtable discussion with President Clinton and Vice President Gore and a host of other experts from a wide range of disciplines. He shared the details of his visits to the many communities on the western edge of the Archdiocese of Seattle who were struggling with unprecedented levels of poverty, unemployment and suffering.