Preserve bottom line on forests

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | 8/12/03 | TODD C. RASMUSSEN

[optimistically_conservative]

	Special Faced with soaring property taxes and high debt, giant timber firms are unloading millions of acres of their forests. Never has so much Southern forest land been available for sale at one time, insiders say.

By TODD C. RASMUSSEN

	Todd C. Rasmussen is an associate professor of forest hydrology at the University of Georgia.

While Georgia is indeed blessed with abundant forests, these forests are clearly threatened by the need of forest industries to sell off their vast timberlands.

Timber companies are selling millions of acres in the South to reduce their debt and property taxes, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported recently ("Companies put acres of timberland on market," News, Aug. 4).

One should not blame forest industries for putting their holdings on the auction block -- private industry must act in its own best interest for the benefit of its stockholders.

Yet each of us has much to lose by this divestiture.

In addition to wood and paper products, forests provide us with clean air and water, open space and wildlife habitat, as well as recreational pleasures such as hiking, fishing, hunting and boating.

What will we do when most of Georgia looks like Los Angeles, with endless pavement stretching from the mountains to the sea?

One suggestion is for the state and conservation groups to purchase these vast holdings. Yet the costs of this endeavor would be staggering. Simple math means that no one will likely have the resources for acquiring these large holdings.

Instead of direct purchase, other options are available, including conservation easements, limited development agreements, purchase of development rights and leases.

Yet another option is to actually compensate forest landowners for the amenities they provide. Rather than taxing them on their lands, perhaps we should pay them for the important resources they give us.

Is it wrong to pay someone for providing clean water, protecting wildlife, sequestering carbon to prevent global warming, and leaving a natural legacy for our children? What other industry provides such benefits to the public without compensation?

---

Todd C. Rasmussen is an associate professor of forest hydrology at the University of Georgia.

[nightdriver]

"One should not blame forest industries for putting their holdings on the auction block...."

Too many sheeple have no idea where the government gets its money.

They demand that government get big and invasive, the politicians are glad to comply, the acheivers get punished so much by taxes that they go out of business (or offshore) and then what?

[Libertarianize the GOP]

ping

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.

[RightWhale]

Gov Murkowski just signed something designating State Forests as for timber, not multi-use. Multi-use was just an enviro-greenie cover; it's darn refreshing, the air in Juneau, Alaska.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!