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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OP-ED -- COMMENTARY
Eco-lawsuits v. Active Forest Management
"SMOKE GETS IN MY EYES"
By Don Amador
Date: August 18, 2002
Tragically missing in the current debate of "enviro
lawsuits/appeals of forest fuel load reduction programs" is
the affect of the wildfire's air pollution on people located
hundreds of miles from the fire.
I started to think about this while on a recent vacation at
the King Range National Conservation Area in northwestern
California. My efforts to photograph the mountain splendors in
this region were blocked by a thick brown haze generated from
the Oregon fires burning almost 150 miles away.
The active management of our forests -- substantial mechanical
treatment AND prescribed burning -- is something that must
become a reality. As one who grew up in the small timber town
of Eureka, California in the 1950s and 60s, here is my view on
active management v. eco-lawsuits.
Active management programs on our national forests will not
cause elderly citizens and children living 100-200 miles from
a wildfire to be asked to stay indoors by state officials
because of a smoke-generated smog alert.
Active management of public lands will not cause families to
cancel their vacations at Lake Almanor in the Sierra Nevada
Mountain Range because the dominating and breath-taking views
of Mt. Lassen in Lassen Volcanic National Park are obscured by
a filthy veil of brown air.
Active management will not require the Chief of the Forest
Service in Washington D.C. to ask his agency to stop
campground projects and trail maintenance programs so that
those funds can be redirected to fire fighting.
Active management will not require the evacuation of towns in
Colorado, Oregon, and California. It will not destroy the
homes and property of rural residents. It will not take the
lives of brave firefighters and leave those families without a
mom or a dad.
Active management will not destroy the critical habitat of
threatened and endangered species. It will not char the bodies
of bear, deer, pine marten, red fox, and other animals that
can't outrun a fast moving flame.
Active management will not ruin for generations the many
family-oriented recreation areas on Forest Service and Bureau
of Land Management public lands.
As smoke gets in the eyes of everyday Americans we no longer
have the option of allowing green lawsuits and appeals to stop
the active management of our forests. Our forestry
professionals must be allowed to do their job.
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