CORZINE SEEKS BAN ON SOME NATIONAL FOREST ROADS

[bach2yoga]

CORZINE SEEKS BAN ON SOME NATIONAL FOREST ROADS

Date: 2 Apr 2003
From: "Peter Montague" {Peter@rachel.org}

BILL WOULD BAN LOGGING, ROADS IN SOME U.S. FORESTS

By Reuters

Washington - U.S. Democratic senators Tuesday reintroduced
legislation to protect fragile wildlife by banning logging and road
development in millions of acres of pristine forests.

The bill, introduced by Sen. Jon Corzine, a New Jersey Democrat, and
three other lawmakers, would prohibit logging and road-building on
federal land where lumber removal could damage the environment and
threaten endangered plants and animals.

Logging would be restricted in wilderness areas such as ancient
forests, watersheds, or land designated as roadless. It also would ban
destructive logging practices - including clear-cutting, a practice
where all trees in an area are removed at one time - on all U.S.
forest land.

"The administration continues to put the interests of the timber
industry ahead of the public's interest in managing national forests,"
Corzine said in a statement. "They are weakening protections for
roadless areas and continuing to liquidate remaining ancient forests."

Similar legislation was introduced in both the House and Senate last
year.

The Bush administration has been criticized for its timber-friendly
approach that opponents contend is geared toward easing access to U.S.
forests for large companies.

A number of Bush plans would streamline environmental rules that make
it difficult to remove dangerous underbrush and dead trees that serve
as fuel in spreading wildfires.

The administration said the plans would streamline the existing
process by removing several legally imposed requirements that have
delayed or postponed thinning projects in the past.

[JeffD]

I thought I was logged in and hit submit to post, and I was promted to log in. Guess what? All my words were EATEN!

Well, here goes a reconstruction:

As WC Fields would say, ahhhh yes, seems we've been here before. Logging and road building are not INHERENTLY bad, nor is clearcutting. The clearcutting the lumber barons of the late 19th and early 20th century practice, which naturalists such as John Muir campaigned against, was destructive. As a result of reforms brought on by folks like Mr. Muir and forester Gifford Pinchot, responsible logging started being practiced around the time the U.S. Forest Service was created.

It's a matter of how, where and when trees are harvested that counts. This is the science of silviculture. This wise management, which employed responsible logging, created healthy forests. The leave it alone, extensive wilderness polcies of the past 30 years or so, a defacto management by neglect, where logging and roads are banned on much of our national forests, has been as destructive to forests as the practices of the lumber barons. President Bush has been implimenting another much needed reform to keep our forests healthy and prevent monster wildfires. Senator Corzines legislative proposal will not keep the forest healthy, and will keep us in the dark ages of forest management.

Patrick Moore, who combines science and timber harvesting, explains the benefits of responsible clear cutting. http://www.greenspirit.com/key_issues/the_log.cfm?booknum=13

Dr. Moore also recently testified at a congressional Forest and Forest Health hearing about managing our forests. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a electronic testimony put have the electronic press release. Maybe the electronic transcript is forthcoming.. http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/press/2003/2003_0227fire.htm