Our forests need public input
St. Cloud Times, August 24, 2003 Sunday
By Andrea Karpe, Isanti
"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going
to get better. It's not."
This message from the Lorax holds true even today. As the Sept. 11
deadline for public comments on the forest plans for our national
forests approaches, the timber and paper companies are making
their thoughts known loud and clear. But only we can speak for
trees.
As the U.S. Forest Service struggles to devise a new set of Forest
Management Plans, the timber industry has compiled a long list of
complaints about the forest service's methodology and results.
According to the timber industry, the review and comment process
is too long, complicated and unnecessary.
While the proposed forest plans are weighty - daunting at best
- those pages are the only way we have to keep the government
accountable. How can we know what is going on in the forests without
this process and this documentation?
If we, the public, aren't aware of the actions affecting our national
forests, we will never be able to protect them or enjoy them.
On the other hand, the only things the timber industry cares about
are increased logging rates, increased tree sales and the elimination
of prescribed burning for wildfire prevention.
Allowing these companies to control our national forests would be
no different than letting Dr. Seuss's Once-ler chop down our trees
as well.
It is in the best interest of the timber and paper industries to
discourage the comment process and discredit the environmental
research involved in managing the forest. How many citizens would
agree with the policies of these industries - clear-cuts and
unhampered logging?
... While these companies hide behind the reams of the environmental
summary and use their size to intimidate the public, many groups,
including the forest service, encourage people to get familiar with
the plans and explore the alternatives.
Visiting the Sierra Club's Northstar Web site
northstar.sierraclub.org/forests can give the public a
very clear and balanced idea of what these forest management plans
mean and what they will do to our cherished lands.
... The forest plans are overwhelming. However for the average
citizen there are some suggestions to make them a little less
daunting. First, don't read the whole plan. You wouldn't read the
entire encyclopedia or the dictionary.
Read, study, learn and comment on the parts of the plan that are most
interesting to you. Public comments are the sum of their parts. No
one needs to feel obligated to comment on every single aspect of
the forest plans.
Secondly, remember that specific comments give the forest service
constructive thoughts they can use to adapt the current plans. More
specific, detailed and better-researched comments will obviously
carry more weight.
In the Superior and Chippewa national forests there is no Lorax
working to protect the trees and the wildlife that live there. We
must become him in order to protect our national heritage before
it is too late.
Andrea Karpe is a Sierra Club Intern from Isanti.