COUNTERPOINT: Logging the National Forests — protecting the environment
Ask the average U.S. citizen if our environment is getting better or worse, and they are likely to say worse. Most of them have heard from environmentalist groups, or from the mass media, that our air is dirtier, as is our water, and that we are chopping down trees so fast we will soon have no forests left.
The problem is that all three statements are false. With very few exceptions, we have much cleaner air and water now than we did 30 years ago, and there is more forested land now in the United States than at the start of the 20th century.
Environmentalism began with good-hearted people desiring to make the world we live in a better place. It is unfortunate they have followed the example of so many other activist groups in selecting extreme policy goals based more on emotion than science.
One such example is their opposition to active forest management, and specifically the “Healthy Forests Initiative,” announced earlier this year by President Bush. Under the initiative, logging will be allowed in many areas of forest that were previously off-limits to logging.
“But wait,” you cry. “Won’t that destroy our forests?”
If environmentalists are to be believed, it would, but many researchers believe that logging, if done right, is the best way to maintain forest health, just as hunting, if properly regulated, helps maintain the health of big game population; and grazing, if properly regulated, helps maintain the health of public lands.
Remember the devastating wildfires we saw this year in Arizona? Hundreds of thousands of acres were burned, families lost their homes and livelihoods, and communities were destroyed. In a Forest Service report on the fires, it was shown that one of the reasons the fire was so devastating was that environmentalists had stopped logging in those forests, dramatically increasing the fire danger on that land.
The Forest Service is entrusted with taking care of the forests. Their jobs depend on it, so they have good incentives to know exactly what makes for a healthy forest. They know the science and know that logging not only allows for healthier trees, but for easier fire containment as well.
In Utah, similar problems have been encountered with fights over the bark beetle, a bug that attacks and kills trees. The Forest Service found infestations in Dixie National Forest, and wanted to let loggers go in and take out the trees that had been infested. Environmentalists filed lawsuits to stop the logging, because it would disrupt the natural balance. After all, how can chopping down trees be good for the forest? In the end, environmentalists won, logging was stopped, and the bark beetle continued its deadly work, until today, most of the Dixie National Forest is dead or dying. Does it sound to you like environmentalists did anything to help the forest?
The extreme views of some environmental groups finally achieved policy status during the presidency of Bill Clinton, when he declared millions of acres of Forest Service land off-limits to logging. In effect, he decided to take away a management tool from the Forest Service.
That would be like taking your car to a mechanic, but proscribing him from using wrenches to fix your car. When says using a hammer and screwdriver to get at the transmission is probably not the best way, you say it’s his problem.
Since we cannot take important tools away from a mechanic and expect him to adequately maintain our car, we cannot take away an important management tool from the Forest Service and expect our forests to remain healthy.
Bush and his advisers saw the devastation caused by these policies and took action to prevent further devastation. The president’s forest initiative has not, as environmentalists would claim, given free rein to logging companies to destroy the land. What it has done is give back to the Forest Service one of its best and most efficient tools for keeping our forests healthy, and all of us safe.
Jeremy Kidd is a graduate student in economics. Comments can be sent to him at jeremykidd@cc.usu.edu.