Turning Over a New Leaf

Résumé

When two men clash over an alder slated to be cut down, the tree won't be the only thing at risk of falling.

Logan Cook has logged for most of his adult life. It’s a dangerous, hard job, and a devastating landslide accident at the end of last season has got Logan and what’s left of his old crew on edge. He doesn’t blame them. He’d rather not think about that day either. Logan just wants everything to go smoothly this year. He’s got a quota to meet and a group of new, inexperienced loggers to wrangle. The last thing he needs is the band of hippies camping out in a tree on his company’s land. He’s sick of being delayed and the effect it’s having on his team’s already low morale, but Logan’s got a plan to drive the next one out.

Miles Turner has spent the last six years in academia, working on his Environmental Geography PhD. When a summer job offer comes up that gets him out from behind the computer and into the Washington forest, he jumps at the opportunity. Planting trees in areas that have been clear-cut by the lumber industry makes Miles feel like he’s making a real difference. But the head of his University’s environmental advocacy group has a different cause in mind once they get up there—protecting the old growth in the forest from being logged any further—and when he asks Miles to help him, how can Miles say no?

It’s only living up in a tree for a week; how hard can it be?