[1] The trail passes through low-elevation old-growth forest that was a nationwide political issue in the 1960s and 1970s because of conflicting plans for logging and for wilderness designation, respectively.

[3] The forest is made up of "gargantuan Douglas firs and 1000-year-old cedars,"[3] with an understory that includes sword fern, Oregon grape, and twinflower.

It marked the establishment and growth of an activist environmental movement at a time when both logging and recreation were rapidly increasing.

"[9][10] There was also concern that without logging, there would be a heightened risk of wildfire, because many of the area's trees were diseased or had been infested and killed by beetles.

Senator Wayne Morse, a Democrat from Oregon, hiked into the area with conservation activists and encouraged Republican U.S.

Morse expressed confidence that French Pete would be protected, while Hatfield still supported the plan for logging.