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Bush's war on the national forests - In support of the Landless Tlingits from Alaska's National Forest Tongass :-)



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 29th, 2003, 04:26 AM
John Elliott
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Default Bush's war on the national forests - In support of the Landless Tlingits from Alaska's National Forest Tongass :-)

We could just continue business as usual and watch the remaining old growth
burn burn burn and then there will be none!

Perhaps instead of just griping at President Bush, some workable
alternatives could be put forth.

I have watched dead ravaged Pine forest (a bug did this) on the east side of
the Cascade mountains in Oregon that have NOT been logged or otherwise
helped for the last 30 years. Unless you can find a way to stop lighting
started fires, these forests fires will continue to consume dead and healthy
trees for years to come. Of course any building, animal (endangered or
not), or person that gets in the way of a fire with a 40 MPH wind behind it
will likely be destroyed, not protected.

I see a lot of gripes. Why not discuss alternatives that work?

A lot of Oregonians are looking for a workable alternative to letting the
wilderness burn. So far, thinning the forest is the best that has been put
forward. It has been shown to work. Yes, some trees of all ages should be
taken out to retain a mix of ages. We should have a mix of ages and types
of trees that reflects the natural growth of each area. However, some areas
naturally grow only a few types of trees.

The fact is, if we do nothing (or argue in court forever) the forest will
burn. Then we will not have old growth or endangered species habitat.

I am a believer in communication. Who knows where the great idea to save
the forests will come from. Let's communicate in a constructive manner.

John
"A.Green" wrote in message
om...
In support of the Landless Tlingits from Alaska's National Forest
Tongass :-) http://cooday8.tripod.com/alaska.htm#anchorAKissues



(deerlodge) wrote in message

. com...
Leave No Tree Behind"
Bush's War on National Forests
By CHRISTOPHER BRAUCHLI

http://www.counterpunch.org/brauchli08062003.html

Hurt not the earth, neither the sea nor the trees.
The revelation of St. John the Divine

Once again the Bush administration has demonstrated creativity in
dealing with problems caused by the environment. Trees are one problem
and roads are a solution. Each has been addressed within the last two
months. A part of the Healthy Forest initiative addresses the tree
problem. The way it works is this.

Lumber companies cut down lots of old growth trees. Once they are gone
there are fewer trees and the ones left are healthier. Pursuant to a
new policy described on May 31, 2003, environmental studies before
logging or burning trees will no longer be required. Consultations
about the effects of those activities on endangered species will no
longer be required if Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management
biologists determine endangered species will probably not be harmed.
Cutting and burning excess trees on up to 190 million acres of federal
land can take place without environmental studies. Trees can be cut
from up to 1,000 acres without environmental studies and controlled
burns can be used on up to 4,500 acres.

Mark Rey, Agriculture Department Undersecretary in charge of the
Forest Service and a lobbyist for the timber industry in a former
life, explained the 1,000 acre rule: "It's 1000 acres of forest that
is unlikely to be consumed by catastrophic fire once we get it done."
Congressman Nick Rahall, of West Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the
House Resources Committee sees it somewhat differently. He says:
"Every so-called 'common sense' effort by the administration to
restore forest health is really an effort to expedite logging on our
public lands with little citizen oversight and no environmental
analysis."

In June the administration announced a proposal that will permit the
building of more roads in formerly roadless areas. It proposes to open
up large areas to recreation that were blocked by rules imposed by
Bill Clinton in January 2001 which banned development on one third of
all national forest land. The rules banned logging, construction of
permanent roads and development on 58.5 million acres of national
forest land. The proposed rule changes would exempt Alaska's Tongass
National Forest from the roadless area conservation rule opening up
300,000 acres to logging and the administration is seeking public
comment on whether or not Alaska's Chugach National Forest should be
exempted from the rule thus opening up another 150,000 acres. The
administration also plans to propose letting governors seek exemption
within their states to the roadless rules.

For an explanation of this new approach we turn again to Mark Rey who
explains: "What I would say is we are working out the path we will
take in protecting the value of the roadless rule. We are going to
construct a rule that has broad support."

Some may wonder about the backgrounds of the people are who are giving
birth to these new rules. The Secretary of the Interior, Gale Norton
favored drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and prior to
her appointment was quoted in an article in the L.A. Times saying: "We
might even go so far as to recognize a homesteading right to pollute
or make noise in an area." As Colorado's Attorney General, she
implemented a 'self-auditing' procedure that allowed polluters to
evade environmental fines. As Interior Secretary she had no trouble
finding like-minded people to work with her.

Her deputy and second in command is J. Stephen Griles. His
environmental sensitivity was developed under James Watt, Ronald
Reagan's Interior Secretary. As a lobbyist he represented Occidental
Petroleum, National Mining Association and Shell Oil. On May 30, 2003,
Bill Moyers examined the conflicts of interest that follow Mr. Griles
around. Although he promised to recuse himself from any Interior
Department business involving former clients, he has continued to meet
with energy industry people who were once his clients.

James Cason, Associate Deputy Secretary is third in command. He was
the nominee for Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Natural
Resources and Environment under George I. If confirmed, he would have
been responsible for the National Forest Service and the Soil
Conservation Service. He made history by what he didn't do. Though
approved in committee he failed to win confirmation in the full senate
and asked to have his name withdrawn. That was reportedly the first
time a nominee for Assistant Secretary got out of committee but didn't
get confirmed. The Chief of the U.S. Forest Service during the Reagan
years, R. Max Peterson said: "Mr. Cason's decisions at the Department
of the Interior were uniformly bad when measured against any
reasonable standard of public interest and fairness to the public
which owns the public lands."

Camden Toohey, Special Assistant for Alaska, is in charge of 270
million acres of Interior lands in that state. He is the former
Executive Director of Arctic Power which lobbies on behalf of oil
drilling in the Arctic Refuge. Bennett Raley is Assistant Secretary
for Water and Science. He is in charge of allocating water to balance
the needs of people and wildlife. He opposes the Clean Water Act. The
list of appointees goes on but space does not.

On July 2, 2003, Earthjustice Legislative Director, Marty Hayden
participated in a 21 chain saw salute to the Bush administration and
corporate timber interests. He said that the Bush administration has
adopted a policy of "Leave no tree behind." That says a lot more about
the administration policy than any of Mark Rey's explanations.

Christopher Brauchli is a Boulder, Colorado lawyer. He can be reached
at:



  #2  
Old September 30th, 2003, 01:35 AM
daytripper
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Posts: n/a
Default Bush's war on the national forests - In support of the Landless Tlingits from Alaska's National Forest Tongass :-)

On Mon, 29 Sep 2003 16:19:26 GMT, Tom wrote:

In article , John Elliott
wrote:

snipped

This is off topic for rec.backcountry. The topic of rec.backcountry is
outdoor recreational activities. You may want to take it to
talk.environment.


If national forests are OT for rec.backcountry, it's clear that group is
blessed with a remarkably high moron factor...

/daytripper (And you're their spokesperson/netcop? Nice! ;-)
  #3  
Old September 30th, 2003, 02:00 AM
no
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Bush's war on the national forests - In support of the Landless Tlingits from Alaska's National Forest Tongass :-)

In article m,
Tom wrote:

In article , John Elliott
wrote:

snipped

This is off topic for rec.backcountry. The topic of rec.backcountry is
outdoor recreational activities. You may want to take it to
talk.environment.


And is your post about outdoor recreational activities? NO! So your
post is off topic too!
 




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