Southern Forest Resource Assessment The suggestions or concerns below were submitted in response to preliminary assessment questions but did not directly fit with a particular question--for details see our Public Input or Methods pages

General Comments--Timber Markets and Forest Management The study should project potential increases in timber production and the effect on the trends discussed. Once these trends are established, analyzed and explained, the study should assess the implications of these trends relative to economic and ecological sustainability. It is clear, however, that timber markets and forest management (or mismanagement) have actually led to the present imbalances in our forests. None of the questions currently listed under this category are important in terms of assuring forest sustainability. We should not be asking how much wood we want to harvest, but rather what harvest, if any, is compatible with sustainability. Another term which is often used carelessly is "productive", as in the "productivity" of forests. The study should be explicit in its recognition that being biologically productive and economically productive are not necessarily the same things. I am not against timbering, for I myself live in a wooden house and use pulp paper, but clear-cutting can be, and should be avoided, if possible. As you know, subsidized logging and associated roadbuilding have resulted in the fragmentation of wildlife habitat, if not the virtual elimination thereof in many instances, as well as the degradation of streams and rivers. Some species have been pushed to the brink of extinction, i.e., the spotted owl. What further adds salt to the wound is that these subsidized activities actually cost the taxpayer millions of dollars. Unfortunately, many forest management activities serve the interests of the commercial timber companies and not those of the public for whom the managers are ostensibly working. It is such a travesty. Why should logging, the most destructive abuse of our forests, be allowed to continue to destroy the ecosystems further? Question as revised in response to these comments Previous Question | Next Question Public Input Home | Methods | Assessment Home

  modified: 1-MAR-2000
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