Originally posted by 2001frontier:
That is true Sean. With proper forestry techniques, the loggers, and nature can coexist and benefit each other. Wood is the only renewable resource besides food that this country has.
The trouble is that loggers are just as bull headed as "tree-huggers". You give an inch and they take a mile. In some of the Utah forests forest thinning is allowed if you have a permit but one group sees a responsible company thinning the forest and the they think that means it's open season and they clearcut part of the forest.
The other problem is that the fallen trees on the forrest floor are usually rotten and not worth anything to loggers, so they leave them. Most of the dead trees still standing are partialy rotten too. And how often do you see a logging truck hauling out dry ground brush? The only good wood is the trees that are still alive so that's all they take.
I (as a "tree-hugger") don't have a problem with companies thinning the old growth out, but too many companies take more than they're supposed to or they clearcut. Plus they don't restore the logging trails they cut so the ATV's start using them all the time and then protest when the forest service tries to close them (or they destroy the barriers and use the trails anyway).
It's a vicious cycle and the only way to stop is is more regulation, control, and policing of logging laws and logging companies. But the forrest services are already under-funded and under-manned. And last year Bush passed laws to loosen restrictions on logging (I'm not tring to make this argument partisan, I'm just saing we're currently heading in the wrong direction).
Which brings me to off2cjb's comment:
For the sake of argument, why does this venture need funding? Why don't you and all those other tree-huugin liberals volunteer your time cleaning up the forest as MB stated above? Instead of volunteering your time handcuffing yourself to a tree in a forest, uncuff yourself and clean it. Oh yeah, that's right. Tree-huugin liberals refuse to work, especially manual labor. You guys only speak up after the fact and never do anything constructive to help fix the problem.
You obviously don't have the slightest idea what most ecological groups do. The only people hancuffing themselves to trees are college student protesters and extremist groups like Greenpeace. Almost all legitimate eco groups fund outings to clean and revitalize the forest and raise awareness of how to work with the forest and how logging positively and negatively impacts the ecosystem.
They put in a hell of alot more money to rebuild the forests than the recreation groups that protest their actions. And they spend all their time trying to bennefit the forrest, that's a hell of alot more than can be said about your constant bitching about "Tree-Huggers".
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