government. One gathers the impression that some A re going to live forever and that our resources are indest 1 man and I have traveled the length and breadth of th s down on the once densely forested mountains of western led at the endless barren land. All that crap about clear to provide ever renewable forests might have some merit d contracts extending over 100 years, designating “clear-cu As it is, clear cutting is just another gimmick that will leave s barren as Michigan and Minnesota. Make no mistake about years like the last twenty and the Oregon timber economy is t ned. is in North Bend. Weyerhaeuser now must go clear to R r. At a recent meeting some joker from the University of M the faithful that it would be economically feasible to build would carry chips from Roseburg to the Coos Bay Port. d from the Umqua river and of course there would be a problem lo with it in Coos Bay. One of the things which has always a never a problem concerning the right of economic interests t pulate other peoples property and rights for their own privat e can be so feeble minded as to believe that once a pipe-li oseburg to Coos the economic interests involved would not d rn on their investment in the face of diminishing supply. e advantages of an education is that it enables one to find loing evil things. The continued exploitation of our limited ng indeed. I urge you to limit continued cutting, to set aside v hat cannot be touched by bleeding industry. Unless we dec ntrol our environment, our excesses will destroy us. In either nited. However rational limitation promises some hope for a fr lly yours, HAROLD BO BEALE AFB, CALIF., April 14, 19 K CHURCH, Building, D.C. TOR CHURCH: The local Sierra Club Newsletter which I jus s that you recently held hearings on the subject of forest mar h the hearings are over, I would like to add my voice to t sed to any attempt to step up the rate of logging on our nati that the Forest Service should instead be protecting our remai lerness areas and wildlife refuges. ly, MARCIA B. DRAGE Here are some answers to the whole timber proble of at least three years on new timber sales on the nation that already have been cut can be replanted. We also n on timber cutting, road construction, and all other acti of 5,000 acres or more on all public lands. This is magnificent defacto wilderness areas. We must reduce of increase it. We need to shift from clear-cutting t do have clear-cutting, the cuts must be much small cutting rotations much longer. We need to divide th we can get cutting back to a sustained yield basis agai be reclassified from commercial timber to non-comm Service must be required to consider all other valu review of all Forest Service timber sales. There should be tough federal guidelines for state fo good management of private forest lands. The expor other foreign countries should be banned. Waste at th must be eliminated. A massive federally-supported I recycling must be instituted. If we do all of this, we ca System from devastation. Sincerely yours, EUGE Senator FRANK CHURCH, Chairman, Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands, Washington, D.C. SIR: I should like to voice my opposition to the propo timber cut in the National Forests, and to the practice o I realize that the increased cut will benefit this a clearcutting is a very inexpensive method of harvestin harvesting is necessary and proper. I realize that (som cutting is necessary for regrowth of certain types of tre However, I feel that the increased cut will be rapid market: the local economic benefit will not be long-live use (of timber) in which other less conventional mate in terms of the nation's resources. The clearcut met destroys the underlying soil and reduces the numbe grown-decreases the sustained yield of the forests-a to behold. hot National Forest looks like a disaster area, Medicine Bow ly "mined" that the narrow remaining strips of timber rem elds of North Dakota, there are bare slopes in Snoqualmie gns of growth since I first saw them in 1956 and even the ic ns of the flat western side of Washington's Olympic Peni to overcome the ravages inflicted on public and private for ic examples: Chipmunk" area in Snoqualmie National Forest (T 17N, R he 1950s but even as recently as several years ago the ev very steep slopes was noticeable. I particularly recall the sig -d in an area which had gullied. opper City area, also in Snoqualmie (T 15N, R 12E), was excuse for this sale was that it would prevent an economic wn timber which was alleged to be "good merchantable sa was obviously rotting. This sale was also supposed to res improved aesthetic condition." The area is in a proposed W 1 as in a Limited Area and the terrain is rather steep. Some thrown into the sale to sweeten the pot and the result was pre mber was largely too rotten even for pulp and so the buy away. The "materially improved aesthetic condition" turne mud, the choking of Deep Creek with mud and silt, a road k to the fragile meadow country above and the appearance of tw with fluted green plastic roofs. ontext it is interesting to note the marked differences in a ofessional foresters and the public. The dead and down ti was aesthetically undesirable to the forester while the rotter ne of the most noted features of the Olympic rain forest. Co Alabama are struggling to save what the Forest Service calls e Branch Canyon of Bankhead National Forest. The concept o a purely commercial forest is understandable enough but the w all "over-mature" trees as so much waste, forgetting that national treasures, the Olympic rain forest and the Redwood cause the trees are "over-mature." THE SOIL LOSS ttle attention has been paid to the tremendous losses of soil soil resource is even more precious than the timber resource be renewed if the former were given more protection. The h the help of some soil experts, has begun comprehensive soil he National Forests, at least in Region 6 (Washington and Or ST SERVICE SHOULD BE COMMENDED AND ENCOUR TO PURSUE THESE STUDIES BUT TO INCORPORATE IN THEIR MANAGEMENT PLANS!! A reduction, rather th presupposed some attention to the principle of sustaine annual cut is about double that figure now and we're tial increase! The situation on Bureau of Land Management lan able cut on the O and C lands of western Oregon h same time period. And what about sustained yield? A 1968 Forest that the annual cut in Humboldt County, Calif. is 370 The claim that wood is in short supply is intended the Congress but according to an article in the June Week about 12% of the cut on the west coast has be Georgia-Pacific official is quoted as saying that "the Sc faster than it's being utilized". Nor is all that south pulp; Weyerhaeuser's efforts to automate sawmills i size second or third growth forests there. The "plight" of the industry is almost more than a ing that Boise Cascades earnings per share have ave years ago the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on i lumber and wood products industry realized a 91% i previous year even after taxes! Now industry wants c to help stave off competition from wood products. Co forests perhaps we should encourage the use of wo SEARCHING FOR A SOLUTION I firmly believe that we must call for a reduction in on our national forests, putting an end to "timber mi sustained-yield forestry. We must focus on the protec We can and must end the waste of wood (it has been es of the volume of wood cut is wasted at the logging plants). We can and must do these things and resist tl wilderness. There is far more commercial timber land on our public lands; legislation may be needed to en on these lands. WESTERN ROCKHOUN Hon. FRANK CHURCH, U.S. Senate Building, Washington, D.C. SIR: The Sacramento Bee of April 11, 1971 carrie by Jas. Risser of the Times-Post News Service re t forests. sing the unscrupulous activities of much of the America ne can only think of the word "Genocide." stern Rockhound Assn. Inc. stands ready to assist you your efforts to protect the natural resources of our country. = truly yours, FRED J. WILDA K CHURCH, Subcommittee on Public Lands, e, Washington, D.C. Redmond, Oreg., April NATOR CHURCH: I am deeply concerned about the present anagement practices on our national forests. Under the m ty of benefits are to be obtained from our Federal forests. Ye oresters seem to favor higher annual cuts to the short ter industry. Associated with the goal for higher yields is an ork to serve harvesting efforts and thus the dominant patter e West. Clear cut patches is prevalent. This is particulari à Cascades. While some intense management should be exp ch a practice throughout is faulty. Failure to maintain a o keep up with the timber harvest schedule is unpardonable. 7 ld be maintained in a natural condition is accepted fact by t t many of the natural areas are too small to serve as ecolog y units. The Matelus River natural area on the east slope of good example. Other efforts by concerned citizens to set a e climatic forests have fallen on deaf ears. Particularly s ent struggle by some to set aside French Peak, the last rema ley in the Cascades. Administrative decision by the Chief of th d the Secretary of Agriculture seem a questionable substit cratic making decision process. I feel the prospects of decision ating in the light of apparent weakness in the system. How iented agency fairly represent public interests please incl of the April 5 and 6, 1971, oversight hearings on manageme olic lands. erely yours, GARVIN PAT BURC S&W SAWMILL, IN FORD HARDIN, of Agriculture, n, D.C. CRETARY HARDIN: I note that President Nixon in his Economic Es stated that he had directed you "to formulate plans for inc ds on federal land". I also note that the President is concerne ing prices for lumber and plywood. |