Australian forests have witnessed conflict over many decades, with multiple values and polarised perspectives on the logging of native forests. And yet, most people who spend time in these forests – whether loggers or scientists, bushwalkers or protestors – love these places. In northern NSW, there had been strong local campaigns occurring within this region. In northern NSW, strong community feelings emerged in the first of a series of facilitated workshops designed to contribute to the Murwillumbah EIS. The aim was to run a ‘community heritage values workshop’ using the methodology developed for the Australian Heritage Commission for use in RFA comprehensive assessments to document places within the forest important to the local community. The underlying concept is that of social value. The first workshop was held at Miginbil and the second at Dorroughby. While at Miginbil, participants documented more than 60 valued places, at Dorroughby, anger and frustration emerged instead. Participants sought a genuine role in shaping the EIS, to ensure that the foundation studies were rigorous and credible. Unwilling to share their ‘special places’ and fearing their information could be misused, they demanded a formal participator process instead – in essence, ‘a seat at the table’. The challenge was to work with their anger and frustration and to craft a request that could be taken to NSW State Forests. As a result, NSW State Forests agreed to a series of workshops to help shape the briefs for the background studies.