BY SUZANNE MARTA
Statesman Journal

Sept. 14, 1997

For more than 100 visiting students, the past week of debates on how
to preserve wilderness areas has ended right where it should -- in
the wilderness.

The delegates for the International Youth Environmental Summit
arrived at Camp Cascade in the Willamette National Forest on Saturday
evening for a final conference debriefing.  Today, they'll hike Opal
Creek's trail through one of the country's oldest forests.

"It's just a relief to be able to come here and relax," said
Australian delegate Jacinta Beard, 14.  "We don't have trees like
this in Australia."

Most of the students agreed that the summit offered more than a venue
to discuss environmental concerns.

"We were able to learn about other cultures and other ways of life,"
said Brazilian delegate Jorge Sette, 17.

They learned that even with those differences, they can come up with
solutions.

"We learned that we have hope," Sette said.  "We can do something for
our world, and this is just the beginning."

And the setting of Camp Cascade was the perfect place for
inspiration.

"Now we can finally see, breathe and smell what we've been talking
about all week," Sette said.

South African delegate Shafiqua Davids, 18, agreed.

"All along, I've had ideas for solutions stuck in my head.  Now I
realize that I must work toward implementing those ideas."

Terry Sandbrook, a teacher and coordinator for the summit team from
Australia, said organizers considered taking the students to
Disneyland, like most other student exchange programs, but opted for
the Willamette National Forest instead.

"We didn't want to cloud the message of the summit with
commercialism," he said.  "The power of the summit should be the
foremost thing on the students' minds when they return to their
schools."