Re: RC: Ms Anne Hayes should NOT be characterized as a public interest attor...

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 8/27/00 7:29:55 AM Pacific Daylight Time, demar@cfw.com 
writes:

<< To characterize Ms. Anne Hayes as a public interest attorney is
 misleading since she is clearly mouthing timber interest propagander. 
 One wonders how these beautiful virgin forests survived before humans
 came on the scene without "management."  It's true that Smokey the Bear
 mismanaged at the behest of timber companies.  It is these companies
 self serving greed that has brought these forests to their present
 state.  Now they can hardly wait to use these fires to justify more of
 their robber barens pillage in the name of forest health.
 
    What we need is true ecological management, putting the welfare of
 ecosystems and public interests first-not that of corporations. >>

First off, as a member of the public and as a lover of nature, I'd like to 
say that in order to enjoy nature, we also need jobs and products.  Trashing 
those "nasty corportations" and going back to being a bunch of hunters and 
gatherers just doesn't cut it.

Second, what is so "virgin" about the forests?  The Indians routinely burned 
them to "manage" the fuels and avoid cataclysmic burns.  Nothing new about 
that.  And where is the damage in doing some selective logging rather than 
simply letting trees die first, to be burned by controlled burns?  Mother 
Earth is one of the most fecund entities around--she is most certainly NOT a 
virgin!  It gets SO tiresome hearing that trite and hackneyed phrase "virgin" 
trotted out time and time again to whip up emotion in place of reason.

Third, to characterize modern timber management as pillage is on par with 
equating modern medicine with the removal of limbs with dirty saws and no 
anesthesia on the battlefields of the War of Northern Aggression (mislabeled 
the "Civil" War by the government victors who got to write the history 
books).  We've come a long way from the days where timber companies were 
"allowed" to damage, and the corporate interests are among the first to know 
that the "profit" from mismanagement is a very short-lived thing.

Fourth, as one who grew up in some of the most beautiful forests in this 
country and who appreciates being able to get out and enjoy our natural 
resources, I've learned that good forest management is the ONLY way to be 
able to not only have forests to enjoy and harvest, but also the only way to 
preserve them in a healthy fashion.  Forests are living things--and to FAIL 
to manage them is on par with locking you off somewhere by yourself when YOU 
have a problem, rather than caring for you.

Heidi