On April 23, 2004 the Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council, the San Bernardino National Forest, the Forest Foundation, The Mountain Coalition, and Southern California Edison sponsored a community forum on 'Restoring our Forest' at the Idyllwild School Auditorium. More than 100 people attended.

Tom Bonnicksen, forest ecologist, professor of forestry and author, spoke about the need for fires to control growth, clear open areas, germinate seeds and create a healthy forest. Bonnicksen stated that removing only the dead trees is not a solution since it will result in an overgrown forest which is just as dangerous. Bonnicksen stressed that creating fuel breaks is not the sole solution. He advocated restoring the whole forest in order to save the whole forest.

John Mount, career forester who manages 20,000 acres around Shaver Lake for Southern California Edison, made the point that Mother Nature is doing just as Mother Nature is supposed to in order to control the forest by allowing the bark beetles and fire to thin the overly thick forest. He also stressed that he manages the forest around Shaver Lake based on what the community wants from the site. While the public decides what they want, he manages it based on scientific management that understands the entire ecosystem. When he began to manage Shaver Lake there were about 2,000 trees per acre and now there are about 80. Since the trees have been thinned and the forest managed, animal and bird species have increased dramatically. When asked about logging, Mount replied that logging is the commercial means of thinning a forest and that if he didn't log trees, he wouldn't have wildlife. The harvesting of trees allows Edison to accomplish what the public wants from the forest by creating the resources (funds) needed to manage it.

Both admitted that Southern California has a problem with means to process and use the wood. There is a need to develop local processing facilities without which there is a serious problem with the lumber infrastructure.

After 100 years of ignoring the forest and chaparral, a few months of removing dead trees is a start but not a solution.