My wife says I only see what I want to see and hear what
I want to hear. I suppose that's right in many cases, but
I'm not alone. Last week I reported that the
Black Hills were on fire and that the fire intensity was
worse than it had to be due to endless litigation by several
environmental groups. I mentioned that the logging industry
could be used to improve the balance and health of the forest
if forest managers were allowed to do their job without a
lawsuit over every proposed timber cut.
From that point, things took an uncomfortable but predictable
course. In the span of a couple days there were posts on the
bulletin board about the ravages of loggers. I got about 2
dozen e-mails, many of them real nasty. I read about massive
clear cuts, scarred land damaged beyond repair, silted streams
and most of the other doomsday messages used by the same
environmentalist groups who litigate each timber cut in the
Black Hills. I'm not saying that the posters and e-mailers
are part of the problem we face here. I'm saying that some
people only see what they want to see and hear what they
want to hear.
I have traveled all over the Black Hills in the 16 years I've
lived here. In all that time, I have yet to see a fresh
clear-cut. That isn't the way timber in this area is harvested.
If they can get past the lawsuits, timber managers in this area
use a thinning type of logging operation. Roughly 2/3 of the
trees in a selected cut area are removed while the others are
left standing. Each tree to be cut is marked and each tree
to be left is marked differently. Any tree that shows evidence
of bird or animal habitation is marked with a big A indicating
an animal tree. Animal trees are left standing. The remaining
mature and immature trees are left standing and undamaged to
provide a reasonable canopy that is thin enough to reduce the
tendency of fires to spread fast through the tree-tops, but
provide reasonable cover and hiding places for the wildlife
living there. The result is a forest with greater diversity
than it had before the operation.
There are several companies who collect wood loggers that can't use
for lumber (including treetops), shred it and transport it to
a particleboard company called Merillat in Rapid City. There
the wood that would have otherwise been waste is processed into
particleboard and eventually used in kitchen cabinets made at
another Merillat factory. Merillat also uses sawdust and other
wood scrap that local sawmills can't make boards out of. Anyway,
that's what usually happens.
Unfortunately, the same people who oppose any logging of any
type in the Black Hills also oppose Merillat. Some of the
more visible environmentalists call them tree murderers and
accuse them of being part of the big business plan to destroy
the environment. Let's get this straight, Merillat helps
clean up after loggers and gets called names for it. I know
it sounds crazy, but that's exactly what happens.
Adding to the insanity is the lawsuit that blocked the recovery
of lumber after the 85,000-acre fire two years ago. The trees
were dead and standing, posing a threat to public safety, but
they also could be used for lumber and particleboard. Common
sense says to use the lumber, recover the waste and let the
forest recover, but that isn't what happened. The same
environmental groups filed a lawsuit in the courts blocking
any harvest of the dead trees. If they follow their prior
actions, they will drop the suit when the timber is no longer
useful as lumber or particleboard. Why continue to fight a
battle they might lose in court if their actions have already
achieved their goal?
Personally, I think the actions of some environmental groups
in the Black Hills are insane and barely short of criminal.
I don't side with the logging industry in everything they do,
and I have reported several operations for violating
environmental standards in the past, but those violations
were rare. However, I do believe that logging is a valuable
tool that forest managers can use to minimize the ravages of
fire and improve the overall health of the forest. That is,
if forest managers are allowed to do their job.
There you go guys; fuel for the fire. Go ahead and send
the nasty e-mails accusing me of environmental devastation
and corrupt profit like you did last week. Call me a tree
murderer like the guys locally do to Merillat and the lumber
mills. Tell me that it's guys like me who are destroying
the earth and making it uninhabitable for your children
like one guy did last week. It's a free country and I'll
continue to believe what I believe is true; and no amount
of threats and nasty e-mails will deter that. I'll even make
it easy for you to send the hate mail. I have a new e-mail
address. It is awcamp@rushmore.com.
I know what you're about; your actions tell the story. I'll
say in public what I believe while you send your little messages
in private. At least some of the guys who had different views
were big enough to post their thoughts on the bulletin board for
all of us to see. I'm big enough to tolerate an opposing view;
are you? ~ AC
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