Pacific Views

WA Forests In Danger

According to the Seattle Times, the Commissioner of Public Lands, Doug Sutherland, is getting ready to remove certain logging restrictions in Washington state today:

Logging on 1.4 million acres of Western Washington state forest would rise dramatically over the next 10 years under new long-range goals sought by Public Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland.

The Board of Natural Resources, which oversees management of forest trust lands, is expected on Tuesday to set the new timber target, which calls for cutting at least 30 percent more wood than has been logged from state forests in recent years.

...Environmentalists, alarmed by the potential change, fear the combination will put pressure on threatened spotted owls and salmon runs, and potentially expose steep slopes and watersheds to stream-choking erosion.

But timber-industry representatives maintain the state could still squeeze out even more wood, and logging practices are much less environmentally damaging than in the past. ...

The restrictions, according to the article, prevented harvesting timber in owl habitat and in areas where the trees were mostly 25 years old or less. The industry claims that the clear-cutting methods they plan to employ will actually create more owl habitat. The lollipop of extra school funding is being held out in return for destroying even more of our natural habitat.

Sutherland, by the way, is a Republican. The restrictions he plans to roll back were put in place by a Democratic predecessor. The WA Department of Natural Resources news page looks like it was written by Frank Luntz, the gentleman we have to thank for the thought process leading to the title of the 'Clear Skies' initiative.

According to directory assistance, Sutherland's office number is 360-902-1004. The number has no answering machine. His email is cpl@wadnr.gov. Polite intimations that you can't create owl habitat by cutting down trees may be referred to him at your convenience.