catch this forest scam

[donsu]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4666162,00.html

White House Said to Want Forests Thinned


The Bush administration plans to double efforts to thin fire-prone Western forests and will emphasize the cutting of trees that can be sold to help pay for the work, Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey said.

Along with increased thinning, the administration wants to reform the Endangered Species Act, streamline national forest management and give states more power in managing roadless areas, said Rey, who directs the nation's forest policy.

But Rey, speaking Thursday at the annual meeting of the Intermountain Forest Association, did not offer any details on exactly what type of Endangered Species Act reforms the president would support.

Last week the administration proposed cutting 80 percent of the federally designated critical habitat for threatened and endangered salmon in the Northwest.

``We're going to be active,'' Rey told the private gathering of about 75 Idaho political leaders and timber company officials. ``We're nowhere near the end of what we want to do.''

Since Bush took office in 2000, there has been a fourfold increase in the amount of national forest acreage treated to prevent wildfire. Last year about 4 million acres were treated with prescription burning or mechanical thinning, and the president wants to double that amount over the next couple of years, Rey said.

A majority of the thinned trees will be sold to sawmills, fuel pellet plants or biomass electricity generators, Rey said.
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WE'RE NOWHERE NEAR THE END OF WHAT WE WANT TO DO.'


sorry earth, you lose

[4morewars]

1. The earth will be fine.....

the people, however, are FUCKED !

"Only when the last tree has died, and the last river been poisoned,
and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money." - Cree Indian Saying

[Ready4Change]

2. I revisited Oregon a month ago.

Last time I had visited was about 3 years before. Travelled through some of the Cascades and a bit of shoreline.

I was shocked at the changes. Treelines in what I thought were protected parklines clearcut practically down to the shoreline roads, except for a boundary maybe 3 or 4 trees in depth along the sides of roads. If you weren't looking for it you might not notice. However, from a distance the hillsides are clearly denuded, except for a few sparse patches that appeared to have been left because of the steepness of the slopes they were on.

"Treated" to control fire my ass. Cleared of any burnable material whatsoever is more like it. And soon to be cleared of topsoil as well.

There WILL be stories of mudslides soon. I guarantee it.

[enough]

3. "Scam" is the word for this,

or maybe "atrocity."

[radwriter0555]

4. bush said that trees cause forest fires, so, gosh, we'd better get

rid of them!

Those pesky trees are part of the axis of evil!

[Goathead]

5. When I flew out of Seattle

We flew over the Olympic peninsula and the clear cutting was unbelievable. You really don't notice it from the ground level, but from the air I would say a good quarter of the land had been clear cut. Desertification was clearly under way. It is a good thing Olympic National Park is there to protect a sizable portion of the peninsula.

[Nordic]

6. Good god

this is the reason I vowed long ago that I would never EVER under any circumstances vote republican.

The #1 reason.

Thanks, assholes!

[Deja Q]

7. Rainforests too. What's the point of having oxygen when money is at stake?

:eyes: