On 12/1/95 David Writes:
> According to the 1994 Report of the US Forest Service
>
> Land in the National Forest System (table 6) 77 million hectares
>
> Land in the National Wilderness Preservation System (table 13) 13.4 million
> hectares
>
> US Forest Service lands in wilderness = 17%
>
> ==========================================
>
> Perhaps the concern is over the last 5% or so of native forest lands that the
> US Forest Service (and courts) have not yet designated as "off-limits" to
> sustainable timber management.
>
David,
I appreciate your rsponse, but I would like to clarify a couple
of points. First of all, due to the sufficiency rider, logging is now
taking place in Wilderness Areas. (the Kalmiopsis is 50 miles from my
house) Secondly, the figures that you present do not reflect how much of
our native forests have already been cut. You mentioned that there are
77 million hectaares in the National Forest System, but is that all
old-growth? I don't think so. The 13.4 million hectatres in the
Wilderness Preservation System represents but a small fraction of the
forest land that we once had. Just for comparison, how many hectares do
Boise-Cascade, Weyerhauser, et al privately own? How many doug fir and
ponderosa have Boise cut in the PNW that they planted? Out of the
millions of seedlings that the industry and the government have planted,
how many have become old-growth? Of the millions of hectares of land that
you claim is "off limits" how many six and seven foot diameter trees are
on those lands? A two hundred year old tree can be less than two feet in
diameter, it takes very special conditions to grow a seven foot diameter
doug fir. Do you believe that the timber industry is going to make a 400
year investment in a tree? Do you believe that sales like Sugarloaf and
China Left (recent old-growth sales here in Southern Oregon) will be "set
aside fro another 5 or 6 hundred years so that the old-growth will
return? Of course not. And lastly, how did these stands manage to
survive for thousands of years without "sustainable management?"
Bret Diamond
Oregon, USA
diam9018@tao.sosc.osshe.edu
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