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All I know is that, despite their initial good effect, the radical 
elements of the environmental movement have pushed timber harvesting 
into such a corner, that private land-holders have little option except 
to sell out to enormous companies that can afford to fight for the 
right to harvest, or to developers who permanently alter the landscape 
with concrete and faux chateaus.  I can't help but believe that the 
federal government is in the same boat.  We nearly expired over what 
the state forester told us when we questioned why our harvesting or a 
federal sale was being delayed when it had passed every environmental 
hurdle out there:  "well, to be honest, it doesn't matter that there 
are no legitimate challenges, it is simply a fact that there will be 
protests and we aren't in a position to resist them."  What's the 
government to do with its resources--our public resources--when its not 
allowed to manage them responsibly?

Our company just bought a lot of acreage that had been owned and 
managed well by a family for a very long time.  That family couldn't 
afford a legal battle every time they wanted to cut, so they sold to a 
conglomerate that promptly cut every tree, then shut down the local 
mills and departed, leaving ghost towns and lots of meth labs in their 
wake.  We bought the land (fairly inexpensively) because we are a 
family company in it for the long run, and we don't mind the fact that 
the land will be worthless monetarily for 80 years or so.  Had there 
been a rational culture of sustainable harvesting, that original family 
would still be managing 5,800 acres of beautiful forests instead of our 
staring at a wasteland for nearly 100 years!

Off my soapbox now.  By the way--my family is an interesting mix of 
tree-hugging Sierra Club/Audoubon members and practical business 
people. We have great dinner table conversations.....

Mary K. who thinks we should put together a ride on this new property!


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