Letters to the Editor 01/06/2010

To the Editor:

An old slogan: Believe none of what you read and only half of what you see!

The December 23 Nugget has Sen. Wyden's bill to "restore jobs and forests." Once you passed "the representatives of the timber industry," you get the believable half - "would authorize an extra $50 million for U.S. Forest Service to shift its focus."

Ho-hum! Back to the "none of what you read" part.

Translated, that says, "hand out more bucks to the already overpaid and underworked Forest Service execs" and "CUT MORE TREES!"

Recent TV interviewed the operator of the latest tree-cutting machine - part of a three-man crew which is capable of cutting, stacking and loading up to 300 trees a day! Wyden's article says "tripling the number of acres thinned."

Another slogan: "Figures don't lie, but liars figure." Nowhere did I see how many jobs would be created or what type. I did see that a little sawmill or two MIGHT reopen. Another mill owner to contribute to a reelection campaign.

The article states that a large part of today's timber comes from "imports or private lands." Have you seen any of those private lands? Those people want only their money in their time and could care less about cleanup or reforestation, much less spotted owls and wildlife.

How about some figures, Senator, about how many trees would be replanted in that triple acreage. How about a report on what has become of the former Gilchrist sustainable forests once unlimited cutting was allowed?

There are hundreds of uses for labor in our forests. Cite all the USFS maintenance tasks, Suttle Lake, the Metolius - all of which are now farmed out to private interests. How about allocating that $50 million to a real job-creating effort - a renewal of the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps), which could do so much more than cut trees.

Russell B. Williams