Enhanced VolunteerThe Opal Creek Ancient Forest Center was originally incorporated in 1988 and was known then as the “Friends of Opal Creek”. In the 1970s and 1980s, plans to log old-growth stands in the Opal Creek watershed stirred up local activists who knew the Opal Creek landscape was one of the last big strongholds of a very special kind of ecosystem: low-elevation old growth forest of the western Cascade Range. Friends of Opal Creek advocated to secure permanent protection of the forested watershed by increasing public awareness of the natural and cultural resources, scenic beauty, plant and animal diversity, and ecological complexity of this extraordinary area. In 1992 the Shiny Rock Mining Company gave Friends of Opal Creek a land gift of 151 acres in the Opal Creek watershed valued at $12.6 million, including the entire historic mining town of Jawbone Flats and stands of old-growth forest.