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You protect forests by providing for their proper management and that means timber companies have to come in and thin the old and diseased trees. Overgrown brush has to be removed as well. The US timber industry has been systematically attacked by environmentalists for decades in the name of protecting our forests.

It is ludicrous for anyone to believe that the companies and people that depend on this industry for their livelyhood, would not protect that interest.

When I was young I worked in the timber industry in Idaho and Northern California. In both locations we took the utmost care to prevent erosion, clean up any brush and limbs caused by the logging operation,and make sure any stream beds were free of debris that was a result of our activities. The season following logging on an area we were required to replant the area with like species of trees.

Timber harvesting is a renewable resource. The only thing the environmentalists are accomplishing by opposing it is to eliminate U.S. jobs and create a tinderbox in our national forests.

There is an easy solution to this problem. The Congresscritters we send to Capitol Hill need to enact a law which immediately puts ALL Federal lands which are not in use by the Military, or by other Administrative offices, up for sale. The bill would stipulate that the State in which the land resides has first dibs on the purchase of all Federal lands within their borders, and because most states have a very small budget (as Washington is currently robbing their treasuries via the IRS), an extended payment plan would have to be set up. Legislation could be passed which stipulated:

Federal Excess Land Sale Act of (year)
Introduced into the (House or Senate) of the United States of America, in Congress Assembled on the (date), with the Intent of the Disbursement of all Lands held by the Federal Government which are not actively Serving any lawful Purpose,
* WHEREAS there are wildfires on Federal Lands which threaten hundreds of acres of land, and thousands of people annually, and
* WHEREAS the wildfires are brought about by poor land management policies inherent in Socialist land management agencies such as 1 Billion Acres of American land are under today, and
* WHEREAS the lands which are currently under the Federal Government's control are dangerous to the public, and
* WHEREAS private parties are more apt to manage these lands properly, as the Federal Government will never have the budget to do so, and
* WHEREAS the lands inside of the Sovereign States which make up the United States of America are under the direct jurisdiction of the State in which the Land resides, and
* WHEREAS it would bring vast sums of money into the Treasury of the United States, which otherwise would have to be raised by Income Taxation, and
* WHEREAS any Lands held under the National Park Service's authority are excluded from this Act, be it
* RESOVLED that as of (date), the Lands held under title by the Federal Government of the United States of America,

(a) which are not actively in use for the purposes of Military Readiness or Military Station, and
(b) which are not actively in use by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government for office space, and
(c) which are not otherwise in use by the Federal Government of the United States of America, pursuant to the Businesses performed by the same,

* Will be put up as FOR SALE, under the conditions that:

(a) the State in which such Lands reside is able to select for itself any portion of the Lands listed under this Act, and
(b) the use and disbursement of such lands purchased by the State in question are to be executed at the sole discretion of the State Legislature, and
(c) the State in question should have the funds in its Treasury to pay the asking price for the Lands in question, and if the State in question does not have said Funds, it can pay a portion of the asking Price over the next 5 years, and
(d) any lands not wanted by the State Government are up for sale to the General Public, to be sold as demanded. Be it noted that said Land may be purchased by any Legal Entity, defined as:

i. Individual persons able to pay the full asking price for said Lands, or any declared subset therein, or
ii. Company, corporation, joint-stock enterprise, Trust Fund, Charitable Organization, Advocacy Group, or other Legal Entities, or
iii. Banks, Credit Unions, or other Entities wishing to purchase said Land for resale,
iv. under the Conditions that Entities which are American Citizens, or whose primary Residence is within the legal Borders of the United States of America have preference over Foreign Entities when more than one Entity wishes to purchase any part or parcel of Lands.

* Furthermore, be it noted that the Lands disbursed by this Act, once out of the Legal Possession of the Federal Government of the United States of America, are a private-property entity, whose Purpose and Direction is under the sole responsibility of the Landowner, pursuant to the Various Laws enacted related to private land ownership within the Federal Statutes and appropriate State Statutes which apply to the Lands in question.

(Of course, since I'm not a lawmaker, the preceeding was only me brainstorming, and shouldn't be taken as either a literal Act, or anything approaching something which is passable by Congress. Someone would have to draft an official Act for Congress which covers more bases than this, and is specific enough to be debated. I'm sure Ron Paul could do it...)

If Congress were to sell the 1 BILLION acres of land they currently hold, we could very easily put off the income tax for about 10 years.... Plus, these "Public Land Use" issues immediately become irrelevant, as there would be no more concept of "Public Land" [at least, on the Federal level]. Personally, I wish Congress would do something like this, but I think with the power that the various Environmental and other Liberal lobby groups hold over the spineless twits on Capitol Hill, the odds of ANYTHING this free-enterprise happening are incredibly slim. Too bad, imho.

:) ttt