The Law of Unintended Consequences strikes again. I'm with the enviroweenies on this one. Patterned cutting leaving sections untouched would (probably- I'm no geological expert) have lessened the slides and prevented damage.
It is tough to balance between the "never cut anything" wackos and the "clear cut everything 'cause I don't live there anyway" corporate interests, but it is in our own best interest to do so.
This was obviously not the right terrain and the wrong soil conditions.
There's a thousand acre clear cut in Whitefield New Hampshire on gently sloping land that has seen no erosion and has created an "animal and bird cafeteria" with all the new growth.
It's just plain common sense.
The logging company should have selectively cut on the steep mountainsides out west or done a checkerboard pattern of smaller clear cuts.