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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ThirdEye who wrote (353978)	2/5/2003 11:13:48 AM
From: jlallen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

NRDC is hardly a non-partisan source...

To: ThirdEye who wrote (353978)	2/5/2003 12:49:19 PM
From: Srexley	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769667

Is this your only source of info 3rd? Looks kind of partisan to me. I know that Bush is not an environmentalist as AS or you would use the term. I call that definition enviromental whackoism. Bush loves the environment and the outdoors, I am sure of that. But he also feels that not everything humans do to the environment is bad for the environment. He feels there are justifiable uses for our environment that benefit people more than it hurts the environment. The logging issue is a great example, and living in Northern CA I get pretty fair exposure to both sides. I KNOW the forests are overgrown and prone to catastrophic fires. That is an irrefutable FACT. I think we lost 6,000,000 acres last year alone. I also know that this dangerously overgrown situation is at least partially (if not mostly) CAUSED by the whackos, but the whackos will take no responsibility for it. They only attack Bush, and the lumber industry in the same mean spirited way that the demo party conducts their political strategy. Since fact will not back them up, they can only attack. I view the extreme enviromentalists as enemies of society and environment because they are blinded by their religion. They use the legal system to the extreme to attack businesses and policies and trick the public with misleading information (like AS saying that Bush wants to cut old growth forests, which is an outright lie). I used to like environmentalists btw as they were a balance to over zealous business practices, but the tides have turned and it is the forest services companies that are the better stewards of the environment. Here's an editorial from todays paper that gives a nice counter to yuor Bush hating sight. Might be good for you to review both sides. redding.com Loggers capable of serving as forest stewards Mike Albrecht February 05, 2003 — 2:17 a.m. California is more renowned for producing Hollywood blockbusters and microchips than for wood products. But if the citizens of our state better understood California's forest products industry, they would be more than proud: They would be impressed with an industry that has learned how to harvest timber in a way that balances the needs of society with the demands of environmental stewardship. But in the past several decades, two contrary trends have emerged: As our foresters, loggers and scientists have gained in knowledge of how to safeguard water quality, preserve wildlife habitat and promote forest health, many environmental activists have demonized forest products companies in the public mind. They have persuaded lawmakers to cordon off huge areas of public land from the kind of tree thinning that might have helped prevent last summer's catastrophic wildfires. Those fires consumed nearly 7 million acres across the West, cost more than $1 billion to fight, threatened some of our most precious national treasures, and caused increased debris and sediment flow into reservoirs that supply water for human use. By thinning forests to reduce overcrowding of trees — something natural fires used to accomplish before total fire suppression policies created an abnormally thick forest — our loggers create areas where fires burn less intensely and do far less damage, but only if we're allowed into an area as part of a plan for promoting forest health. Last year's Biscuit Fire burned thousands of acres in the Siskiyou National Forest — much of it the old-growth habitat of northern spotted owls — that will take decades, if not centuries, to recover. Thinning out such a forest would have created enough open space to give fire crews room to fight back and keep trees from going up in smoke. Spotted owls and other animals can more easily hunt in these open spaces. Obviously our industry's concern for habitat extends to humanity, too. With today's low interest rates, home construction is perhaps the one bright spot in the economy. Luckily we don't need to worry about running out of trees for lumber and other building materials, as California's forest products industry plants an average of seven trees for each one harvested and growth has exceeded harvest in our forests for more than 30 years. Nor do we need to feel guilty about using wood, especially wood that is harvested in California under the toughest environmental regulations in the world. California's primary set of forest protection laws has 973 regulations that dictate exactly how private forest lands are to be used and maintained. Our 8 million acres of parks and wilderness areas are managed for preservation. And tree harvesting in our national forests, formerly managed for multiple uses including timber production, has dropped significantly in the past decade. Unfortunately, when more and more forest land is placed off-limits to responsible harvesting, home-grown forest products companies that practice good forestry can no longer supply the demand for wood. California consumes more wood than any other state. When we can no longer supply our own wood needs, the void is filled by companies in less-developed nations where environmental protections are lax or nonexistent. Third World nations are devastating our environment because of shortsighted forestry policies here at home. The better solution is responsible harvesting in our own back yard. California's forest products industry can do a superior job. No part of a tree goes to waste in our sawmills, which use laser-guided technology to get the most lumber from a log. The remaining wood chips and sawdust produce biomass energy, which powers the sawmill and puts enough energy back on the power grid to keep the lights on in hundreds of thousands of homes and offices each year. So the next time you see a new home being built or plan a vacation to visit California's famous redwoods and other forests, take a moment to acknowledge the forest products industry. We might not get the same amount of ink as Hollywood, but we did grow the paper. And we do it without hurting California's forests. Mike Albrecht is president of the Logger Executive Committee of the Sierra Cascade Logging Conference and president of Sierra Resource Management of Sonora. The Sierra Cascade Logging Conference (www.sierracascade.org) will be held Thursday through Saturday in Anderson. Wednesday, February 5, 2003