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Posted on 07/10/2003 6:57:10 AM PDT by Theodore R.
Forest Service shifts focus
By Allison Fashek Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
CHEYENNE – Logging is no longer the major issue facing national forests, officials from the U.S. Forest Service said Wednesday.
Instead, the Forest Service is focusing on reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfires, containing the spread of invasive species, reducing unmanaged recreational use and reducing the fragmentation of habitat and the loss of open spaces.
In Wyoming, that means looking at invasive species such as spotted knapweed and cheatgrass and the use of off-road vehicles beyond trails and designated areas, said Jack Troyer, regional forester for the Forest Service’s Intermountain Region.
Troyer was in town Wednesday to get acquainted with Gov. Dave Freudenthal and discuss forest management in the state.
Afterward, he said people who are still concerned about commercial logging and road-building need to do their homework.
“We’re harvesting about one-sixth the volume of national forests that we did 10 years ago,” Troyer said, “and we’re not going back to the volumes of yesteryear.”
He added that over the past three years, the Forest Service has decommissioned 14 miles of road for every new mile of road added.
But environmentalists don’t see it that way.
Jeff Kessler of the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance said forests in Wyoming are still being subjected to industrial logging activities for no purpose other than to generate political support from the timber industry.
“In the major logging projects we see on the Medicine Bow and the Black Hills, it’s the same old thing,” Kessler said. “Just because they say they’re doing things different doesn’t mean they are.”
The group advocates fire risk reduction in the immediate vicinity of homes but feels that Wyoming forests are not overstocked and don’t need to be cut as they are.
Despite the concerns, Troyer said that as people get involved, they will learn the facts.
The Forest Service also is looking for help from the public to help accomplish its new objectives.
“We want people to worry about the system and be horrified by what can happen,” Troyer said. “We need a public commitment.”
He says that the timber industry is courted for its political contributions, but who supports his "biodiversity" group?
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Isn't the concept of national forests that they are owned by "all of the citizens"?
Just why can't I go out to some property, where I am a co-owner, for a little "unmanaged recreational use"?
Biodiversity Conservation Aliiance (aka "Friends of the Bow", aka "Biodiversity Associates") is one of 30 shill groups for the Wildlands Project, which was envisioned by Earth First! ecoterrorist Dave Foreman.
Some excerpts follow from "TECHNICAL REVIEW OF THE WILDLANDS PROJECT
"...a review of Wildlands Project documents suggests that the actions are often well coordinated activities aimed according to the Project's text at establishing a "regional reserve system which will ultimately tie the North American continent into a single Biodiversity Reserve."
" The project calls on the establishment of systems of core wilderness areas where human activity is prohibited, linked with biological corridors."
"In their spring 1996 newsletter, Friends of the Bow/Biodiversity Associates acknowledged thanks for the grants it received from the Foundation for Deep Ecology, Sierra Club, Wilderness Society, National Rivers Coalition, Fund for Wild Nature, Harder Foundation, and Reraam Foundation. Donations from Patagonia and New Belgium Brewing Company are also acknowledged."
" By 1994, the Wildlands Project had identified 38 areas in the western United States where minor road closures would create large roadless areas of more than a million acres. In total, these areas make up more that 75 million acres."
"A key part of the American Wilderness Recovery Plan is to return to Muir's vision for management of our public lands. Commercial livestock grazing of federal and state lands cannot be justified ecologically or economically. Commercial logging, with the possible exception of small pole, post, and firewood sales, should be prohibited. Mining is an inappropriate use of public lands in virtually all cases. Vehicle use off established roads must be entirely prohibited. By freeing Forest Service, BLM, and state lands of such multiple-abuses, many roads and other developments could be closed. Roads necessary only for logging and grazing or recreational access should be closed."
" Members of the Wildlands project have petitioned for the listing of over 100 species as threatened or endangered and have filed lawsuits for the listing of over 2,000 species."
" The Friend of the Bow represents a prime example of the efficiency of the Wildland Project itself. Not only was the Wildlands Project able to establish a project organization to further its objectives in this region of Wyoming, Colorado and South Dakota, but the Wildlands Project was fully capable of providing this organization with professional staffing, necessary funding and a full array of technical and legal consultants to ensure that this "project" is successful."
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
Hey, I'm horrified! Let's get these enviro-maniacs out before they do any more damage.
Me too, and I'm surrounded by them here in Durango CO.
There's a small (100 acres) fire burning right now north above Vallecito Lake, in the same area of the Missionary Ridge Fire of last year.....I AM NOT HAPPY!
FMCDH
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