Pubdate: Fri, 06 May 2005
Source: Republican, The (Springfield, MA)
Copyright: 2005 The Republican
Contact:  http://www.masslive.com/republican/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3075
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

FOR LOGGING INDUSTRY, MONEY GROWS ON TREES

Eight days before he left office in January 2001, President Clinton
issued an order protecting nearly 60 million acres of national forests
from road construction.

At the time, the national forests contained 386,000 miles of roads,
eight times the length of the interstate highway system and enough to
encircle the earth 15 times. Most of the roads were built for timber
access and extraction. The Clinton order sent a message to Americans
not heard since Theodore Roosevelt created the national forests a
century ago: Our forests are more valuable as pristine woodlands than
as planks of lumber.

Yesterday, the Bush administration announced a fundamental shift in
how the nation officially views its forests when it overturned the
Clinton order. The decision puts at great risk a natural resource that
provides recreational opportunities for millions of Americans and a
habitat for fish and wildlife. The Bush administration has argued that
this is a states' rights issue. It claims that the 12 Western states
and Alaska - where most of the national forests are located - have a
right to manage their own forests. This is a change of tune. The Bush
administration was not an advocate for states' rights when it
attempted to block a California law allowing the medical use of
marijuana. It was not an advocate for states' rights when it
challenged an Oregon law that permits assisted suicide for terminally
ill patients. And it was not an advocate for states' rights when it
supported an amendment to the federal Constitution banning gay
marriage after Massachusetts had become the first state in the nation
to allow it.

This is no longer the 19th century when our nation's forests were seen
as a valuable resource ripe for the picking to meet the needs of a
rapidly expanding population. The U.S. Forestry Service's own records
show that recreational use by campers, hikers and other outdoor
enthusiasts generate far more revenue than timber sales.

In fact, the Government Accountability Office estimates that the
timber program cost American taxpayers more than $2 billion from 1992
to 1997. Taxpayers not only subsidize the road construction, but they
pay for the road maintenance.

That may explain why lobbyists for the logging industry think that
money grows on trees. In the national forests, it does for the logging
industry.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake