How the Sierra Club protects our forests
Thank Gaia, the loggers didn't get it.
(Picture taken from another FReeper, thank you)
Posted on 08/22/2002 4:11:15 PM PDT by kattracks
To the dismay of environment-destroying "environmentalists," President Bush today shifted federal policy toward thinning national forests to reduce the risk of wildfires.
"The forest policy of our government is misguided policy. It doesn't work," Bush told cheering residents outside Medford, Ore., near the state's largest fire on record.
"We need to thin. We need to make our forest healthy by using some common sense.
"We need to understand that if we let kindling build up and there's a lightning strike, you gonna get yourself a big fire. That's what we gotta understand."
It makes sense to clear brush, he said. "We just haven't done it, and we're now paying the price."
At the still-smoldering Squires Peak fire, surrounded by dead, blackened trees, Bush said: "This is the second fire site I've been to this summer, and it's the same story. Had we properly managed our forests, the devastation caused would not have been nearly as severe, and it's a crying shame. ... What the critics need to do is come stand where I stand."
Talking with firefighters still working on piles of embers, Bush said: "You guys see what good practices mean, what bad practices mean firsthand. We're trying to bring common sense to forest policy."
Fireman Cody Goodnough replied, "That will make our job easier."
'Green' With Envy
Left-wing groups that style themselves as "environmentalist" were aghast that that fire reduction plan might actually provide work for the loggers they hate so much. They'd rather have trees burn than provide anyone a livelihood.
"Unfortunately, the administration is exploiting the fear of fires to push through its pro-logging agenda," complained an organization that dubs itself Natural Resources Defense Council.
Ranting at Bush, Silent on Daschle
To prove that these groups are little more than shills for the Democrat party, here's a fascinating fact that the mainstream media will refuse to mention: These same so-called "greens" did not scream and moan when Senate plurality leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., sneaked in an measure exempting only his home state from fire-abetting environmental regulations and lawsuits.
These same bureaucratic rules and nuisance lawsuits are partly responsible for wildfires that have burned nearly 6 million acres in the West this summer, double the usual acreage. The fires will cost taxpayers up to $1.5 billion this year, according to wire services.
'No More Trees to Hug'
As fire victim Jim Cundiff of Linden, Calif., said this summer: "Don't come up here in designer clothes and an SUV and tell me you love the woods. There's no more trees to hug."
To clear a decades-long buildup of highly flammable materials and cut the the risk of catastrophic burns, Bush's plan would:
- Streamline review of the environmental effects of proposed logging and brush clearing.
- Change the standards by which those proposals are approved.
- Allow government agencies to negotiate contracts giving companies the right to sell the wood products they harvest in exchange for removing them from the forest.
- Make it harder for "environmental" groups to appeal plans for tree thinning and brush clearing.
During his speech in Medford, Bush also urged Congress to pass legislation to reduce frivolous lawsuits. With trial lawyers funneling even more money than the "greens" to the Democrats, this is another worthy but daunting task.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Is that the ONRC? Was Andy or Wendell there today?
Environazis are being routed and reamed...couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch.
That certainly brings a long-overdue smile to my face ... Perhaps someday this will once again be a common sense-driven country. It's worth working for.
That wouldn't do a bit of good. They would look at the beauty of the charcoal. So stark, so natural, such a powerful statement, like a giant piece of modern art. All the stimulated soil. All the killed insects. All the wonderful BS they could think of to justify their foolishness.
Instead of grousing about the decision, the fat-cat environmentalist bureaucrats in their executive offices should get out, pitch in, and help clear the time bomb they created.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.