Download File

An End to the War of the Woods! Recent developments in federal policy toward Pacific Northwest forests may mean at a divisive environmental dispute. aging the forests. Many environmental ucts is the largest industry in ( by Brad Meacham groups supported Thomas' nomination logging activity were to stoj and he was cheered by the Association of exaggeration to say that town Forest Service Employees, a dissident REE-LINED U.S. HIGHWAY sections of the region would ( group of forestry workers who have been 101 in Washington State is a die. frustrated with the agency's recent poli- long way from the noisy streets Between 1980 and 19 cies. They accuse the previous manage- of New York City. The route than 14,000 jobs directly related § ment of stifling internal dissent, harming Tmeanders through magnificent stands of were lost in the Northwest. fish and wildlife by overemphasizing old-growth trees that have stood for cen- 10,000 processing jobs were! timber cutting, abetting timber theft and turies, and through vast farms of trees result (Meyer). Several factij manipulating timber data to increase that have been planted to replace those tributed to this development, harvest amounts (Kenworthy and already cut. Logging trucks still domi- es were caused by the relocation Schwartz). While many hope the new nate the road but are less prevalent than ber company activities to the ! appointment will improve morale at the they were just a few years ago. Towns where farm trees were more pll agency, others have called for a continua- are depressed because of the decline of tion of the previous career-based the industry; a general feeling of anxious appointments instead of establishing a frustration fills the air. There was a time Ninety percent oftl precedent for politicization of the office when this area bustled with activity and that could put control of the agency into original temperate r\ families prospered along with it. The the hands of an anti-forest administra- American archetype of the rugged out- forest in the lower' tion. doorsman was widespread and no one worried about any endangered species. The fact that Clinton opted for states has been loggi Thomas over this cautious objection is To the majority of America this noteworthy because it indicates that a mildewy corner of the country is very far major policy shift is underway, exempli- Some were lost to the increased au| away indeed. Wood products are taken fied by the administration's support of tion of the forests which increased for granted. No one thinks about where qualified leaders who will act with the ductivity in a historically dange| they come from. Outside the spotlight, best interests of science in mind. After occupation. A chief cause of the lc this area suffered as the forests thinned years of malignant neglect, Northwest the processing sector was the practi| and there were fewer and fewer trees to forests are finally being paid much-need- shipping one-quarter of all harve cut. For years, the balance between pre- ed attention and the effects will be felt raw logs overseas for processing in, serving the livelihoods of the human across the nation. mills. Though the federal governri inhabitants and protecting the natural blocked the export of federal tre integrity of the region was a quiet politi- 1973, the foreign market was so lucral cal contest waged in Washington D.C. TIMBER COMMUNITIES VS. that private owners supplied their sta and in the board rooms of the forest ENVIRONMENTALISTS and put pressure on the American ; products industry. The land that provided the ernment to open public areas to sati No more. With the widely pub- foundation for legends of the rugged domestic demand. licized spotted owl controversy and the Western woodsman longer exists. ascendance of an avowedly environmen- The supply of trees dried I tally-minded Presidential team, the Ninety percent of the original temperate even more quickly after the Fish aj region is finally on the nation's front rain forest in the lower 48 states has been Wildlife Service listed the Northe burner. logged. The original romance of cutting Spotted Owl as an endangered species] trees by hand saws has been replaced by 1989. The elusive animal comman| President Clinton's recent real images of high-technology logging more significance than its 16-inch fran appointment of Jack Ward Thomas as would suggest because it is known as; Director of the National Forest Service is performed with the benefit of helicopters "indicator species" that can act as] the most recent indication of this atten- and government-funded roads that reach barometer of the health of an entiij tiveness. With 27 years of experience as far out of the public view. ecosystem. Since the owl is high o| a biologist with the Forest Service, Even though the original legend many ancient forest food chains, itl Thomas is no "career" forester but rather turns out to be a fantasy, real communi- endangered status means many oth« a leader with strong scientific creden- ties have become directly tied to the species may also be in trouble. Excessive tials. Since its inception, the agency's industry that removes the trees. State cutting has threatened the viability oi leaders have always been accomplished and local governments receive 25 to 50 species besides the spotted owl, from career veterans of the field who are ideal- percent of National Forest revenue, salmon to banana slugs. While measures ly immune to political pressure in man- becoming dependent on the money for their sustenance. Timber sale revenue to protect other species are under consid- Brad Meacham is a sophomore at Columbia directly funds the construction of new eration, land for the owls has been set College. schools in Washington, and forest prod- aside, cutting the amount of timber and 6 HELVIDIUS Fall 1993 pinching logging communities that were cost of site preparation and road build- already heading toward economic The debate over the use of for- ing when the Forest Service sells land to depression. The owl soon gained the ire est lands goes back to the late 1800s logging companies. The Forest Service of the timber community. when the federal government encour- then keeps the fee that the buyer pays. The frustrations of the logging aged western settlement with generous In 1930, the average cost to the govern- community run squarely against the land grants for homesteading and min- ment of preparing a sale was about 50 increasing outdoors ethic of urban ing. The timber equivalents of the east- cents per thousand board feet, so the law dwellers who turn to the forests for ern industrial magnates began to gain specified that a 50 cent reimbursement refuge from the city. Just as the number control over millions of acres of prime would have to be paid to the treasury. of timber jobs have declined, the number virgin forest through government rail- Even though the average cost is now of visitors to wilderness areas has road grants and clearing house sell-offs. over $50 per thousand board feet, the increased appreciably. As a result many At bargain rates, the land was quickly same 50 cents rule still applies. The claimed and much of the forested west national treasury ends up absorbing the was occupied within a few years, concen- extra $49.50 per thousand board feet and Excessive cutting has trating control in only a few hands. For the Forest Service takes the rest of the example, almost 71 percent of private fees to fund its activity, providing jobs • threatened the viability of timberland in western Oregon was occu- for small dependent communities. species besides the spot- pied by only 68 people in 1913 (Dietrich Consequently, logging is beholden not to 21). the sustainability of the cut, but to politi- ted owl, from salmon to What has become today's 191 cal pressure to provide employment. banana slugs. million acre National Forest System Today this system means that hundreds began in 1876 with an obscure congres- of millions of dollars are lost annually sional appropriation (Robinson 4). For with this taxpayer subsidy of the indus- parks require campsite reservations as the first time, public domain was set try, creating dependent communities that much as eight months in advance and aside as a publicly-managed reserve of are resistant to reform and rapidly permits are required before hikers can trees to be controlled by a government depleting the forest stocks (Baden). enter some wilderness areas. With the agency instead of by private corpora- By the 1960s, national parks and region's population growing, more pres- tions. Under the auspices of the larger wilderness areas were established to sure will be put on land that was once Department of Agriculture, the organiza- meet the public demand for recreational the exclusive preserve of logging. tion had a "multiple use" mandate to space. As the public mood shifted Until recently, the scramble for manage the forests for several purposes. toward an increased awareness of the forests continued virtually unaddressed. One aspect was to ensure that there recreational aspects of the outdoors, the While economic downturn has hurt the would always be an adequate supply of forest management mandate for "multi- regional economy, the question of what trees to furnish the industry so that the ple uses" became increasingly important. to do with the trees has not been conclu- market-driven demands of private enter- The environmental movement beginning sively answered. While the environmen- prise would never decimate the resource. with the Wilderness Act of 1964 demand- talist forces appear to have the upper The first Forest Service Director, Gifford ed that the forests be managed as some- hand, the timber-dependent communi- Pinchot, pioneered the idea of "sustain- ties are left to wither on the vine.

Load more