Part of Tongass opens to logging

TheRogue · 12-24-2003, 06:55 AM

A little bit of sanity creeps back in....

Opening a tiny portion of the Tongass to logging.

It's a start!
[img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]
TR

lost_sailor · 12-24-2003, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by TheRogue:

It's a start!

TheRogue · 12-24-2003, 07:23 AM

Excellent picture!

I see well-logged ground, good low stumps, perfect for re-planting, and plenty of large timber in the background.

What's your point?

TR

Lured In · 12-24-2003, 07:25 AM

So let's review this...

Clinton Supported this logging plan in 1997
Clinton then rescinded his support in 2000.
Alaska's then Democrat Governor supported the logging plan.
Alaska's current republican Governor supports the logging plan.
Bush supports the logging plan.
The US Forest Service Supports the Plan
An Alaska Congresswoman supports the plan.

The only people that don't are "Greenpeace" and the "Alaska Wildnerness League".

Sounds kinda like this got shoved down their throats and there is substantial support for Clinton's original plan of protecting 95% of the area.

Looks like a good thing.

TheRogue · 12-24-2003, 07:47 AM

I also see living-wage jobs in a state which has the dubious honor of passing Oregon (can you say "More locked-up timber") in having the highest un-employment in the country.

I also see timber being harvested from US federal land under US federal rules rather than the destruction that is taking place in much of Canadian Crown-owned timberlands at insanely low Canadian government-subsidized prices.

Large plan put together with input from all sides, and then signed off on in 1997. Then, a few groups don't like it, so try to lock up more, and get Clinton to sign off on it as a "going-away present".

Sound like something going on here locally??

TR

stilly bum · 12-25-2003, 01:58 AM

Yes, perfect for replanting. What used to be an ecosystem will now be a plantation.

Thumper · 12-25-2003, 04:55 AM

That is 3% of the area now closed to development. Which is only 1.8% of the total forest. Consider a square land area 21.6 miles by 21.6 miles in size. That is the area opening up. Out of a total land area that would be 162 miles by 162 miles in size.

And that area will be open to the possibility of timber harvest (emphasis on "possibility"). It is not going, after all, to be paved and covered in Wal-Marts.

Those of us who enjoy the huge Tongass forest every year are in awe of the vastness of its untracked wilderness. But nearly every Alaskan I have spoken with in the past 30 years is furious over the U.S. federal government's demands to keep this huge area undeveloped and underharvested.

This legislation is a great breakthrough for the people of Alaska and all Americans who need wood products. It is long overdue and certainly welcomed by Alaskans. And since clearcuts grow and diversify wildlife it will benefit the wildlife of the area as well.

[ 12-25-2003, 10:16 AM: Message edited by: Thumper ]

Timber · 12-25-2003, 10:09 AM

Sounds like Monica might not have been Clintons only buddy wanting favors. Timber

2LEYS · 12-25-2003, 10:20 AM

Either let us logg it or don't complain when it burns down. When it is on fire let it burn.

SLEDDER · 12-25-2003, 02:22 PM

"Logging is a major part of responsible timber management" That quote is what I heard on a regular basis from my dad. He was an Ecologist for the Forest Service with a Phd. behind his name. Some people think that Phd's mean piled higher and deeper. Not my opinion. As a kid I had glimpses of how hard he worked for that degree. To leave the forest alone is asking for fire, it has to clean itself out every once in awhile. Some people just don't get it and they never will.

garyk · 12-31-2003, 12:57 PM

Yeah, you're right about some people.

Let's see what the former chief of the US Forest Service says, he should be well informed, being a professional forester and wildlife biologist, right?:

"In August, 2003, Jack Ward Thomas, former chief of the Forest Service and an author of the Northwest Forest Plan, called for the end of old growth logging under the plan, and urged agencies to instead focus any logging on the thinning of young stands of trees, to improve forest health."

What about corporations, their all about profitability, what do they say?

"The Boise Cascade Corporation has pledged to stop logging any old growth forests. The Home Depot, the nation's largest retailer of lumber, refuses to sell wood from old growth trees."

How about the newspapers?

"The administration has chosen to dismantle a rule that was put in place after a two-year process that included 600 scientific studies and two rounds of public comments that generated almost 2 million responses, most of them in favor of the rule.

Americans have said with unmistakable clarity that they want to protect what remains of intact roadless lands in their national forests. The Bush administration has chosen to ignore their voice and to instead do the bidding of its industry supporters."

Wow, how about that! Looks like the one 'not getting it' and still living in the past is George Bush.

[ 12-31-2003, 02:26 PM: Message edited by: garyk ]

Thumper · 12-31-2003, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by garyk:
Looks like the one 'not getting it' and still living in the past is George Bush.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">And 92% of all Alaskans .... [img]graemlins/1zhelp.gif[/img]

freespool · 12-31-2003, 06:10 PM

Perhaps next November would be a good time to reiterate our wishes.

salmon hugger

[ 12-31-2003, 07:12 PM: Message edited by: freespool ]