Healthy forests? You mean healthy tree farms.
Duluth News Tribune, Jul. 26, 2003Point of View by ANDREA KARPE
People are passionate about forest fires. When we see them on TV, fires remind us of danger, sadness, loss and nature's unbridled indifference to human safety. Those are the feelings the Bush administration is counting on to carry its National Forest logging plan — the "Healthy Forests Initiative" — through Congress.
The Bush plan rushes logging projects through a hurry-up version of environmental review, and strips away public input into government decisions. The plan is cloaked in language about reducing forest fires and insect infestations. But it doesn't protect communities from wildfire, and it doesn't prevent insects from invading the forest.
Minnesota's U.S. senators, Mark Dayton and Norm Coleman, are both on the committee that produced this bill, and they'll vote on it again in September.
Fire is part of a natural forest. It regenerates the soil, creates habitat for wildlife and allows some tree species their only chance to release seeds. If Congress wanted to address fire threats, they would focus scarce federal dollars on protecting communities from wildfires. Instead, the "Healthy Forests" bill neglects at-risk communities because the real profits for paper and timber companies stand far away, in backwoods parts of national forests.
In another section, the bill would allow up to 1,000 acres of forest to be logged without environmental review under the guise of decreasing insect infestation. Clear-cutting is already allowed to address insect problems, like the spruce budworm, and even groups like the Sierra Club have approved it — after brief environmental review, just in case a boundary was mistaken, or rare endangered wildlife would be lost. We'd never catch these honest mistakes with the Bush plan. Why does the Bush administration want so badly to avoid accountability for environmental impacts, anyway? These are problems that aren't solved at the lumber mill or the paper mill.
Logging puts money — profits and subsidies — into the hands of multinational paper companies and the timber industry. We need that money in our communities — for real fire protection and jobs in our growing recreation industries.
The bill in the Senate only creates false pretenses for clear-cutting.
The Bush plan takes the biggest chunk yet out of environmental policy that protected our environment for 30 years. Currently, the National Environmental Protection Act requires the government to assess environmental impacts and propose different ways it could solve a problem.
After a period of public comment on these alternatives, the government makes a decision, taking into account comments from the public, including conservation groups and the timber industry — again, just in case the government made a mistake.
However, the "Healthy Forests" bill acts primarily as a means to reduce regulation and government accountability on national forests. Without NEPA, we have government by fiat. This is the reckless policy that Senators Coleman and Dayton will vote on soon.
This bill cannot restore healthy forests. It could, however, turn our natural heritage into healthy tree farms. The Senate should reject the Bush administration's logging plan and promote real answers for our cherished National Forests.
ANDREA KARPE, a resident of Isanti, is a Sierra Club volunteer.