Now that the U.S. Forest Service has decided to be honest about its finances, Congress finally is left with no excuses for continuing to pay for the construction of logging roads in national forests.
For the first time ever, the Forest Service decided to include the cost of those roads in its accounting. The result was a report this week that showed an $88 million loss in timber sales, of which $51.4 million was due to road construction. Every American ought to be asking why the logging industry needs taxpayer help to build its roads. Other extraction industries, such as oil and gas companies, don't rely on corporate welfare for such things.These roads fill the nation's national forests with an extensive network that covers nearly 400,000 miles. They are built to help trucks haul away cut trees. But the roads, because they are so numerous, damage fisheries and wildlife habitat and cause erosion in watersheds and recreation areas. The federal subsidies help encourage loggers to cut trees in remote areas where the quality of the timber is dubious.
Time and again, Congress has rejected efforts to end this subsidy. The latest accounting reports ought to change that. The subsidy serves little purpose. Only 5 percent of the nation's logging takes place in national forests. Meanwhile, timber harvests in these forests have dropped from about 12 billion board feet in the 1980s to 4 million board feet in 1997.
Removing the subsidy would not end logging. Timber harvests are necessary for the health of forests. They help the remaining trees resist disease and fires. But by removing the subsidy, Congress would send the message that it wants the Forest Service to abandon its policy of making logging its chief priority, replacing it with one that recognizes multiple use and the overall health of forests.
And, perhaps most importantly, it would send the message that taxpayers no longer will be forced to help pad the wallets of private logging companies.