The Clinton administration announces with great fanfare that public land decisions will be made "using the best science available."
The Dixie National Forest announces that, after exhaustive study begun in "the early 1990s," it will harvest about 20 million board feet of timber on Boulder Mountain. The scientific basis for the cut is reduced tree density and better northern goshawk habitat. Of course, it would also stem the rampant beetle kill and reduce fire hazard.Now the sale is canceled. Good bye, tax dollars wasted on years of study. And why is it canceled? The Forest Service chief says it is because the service cannot afford it. Wonder why?
The stated excuse is that a road-building moratorium is needed. More likely, the Clinton administration is engaged in another sellout of our resources to radical environmentalists, as was the case with the politically motivated travesty of justice that is the new "Monument to Imperialism" in Kane and Garfield counties.
It was not natural science that halted the timber sale on Boulder Mountain. It was the politics of the radical environmental movement. Environmental extremism has grabbed this nation by the throat, and it is killing off our natural resource industries one by one.
"Science" is just a word to hide behind. But we're fat and contented so we don't concern ourselves about these things. But what about future generations? What liberty will they have to produce and prosper if we lock up the forests, drain the lakes and drive mining and energy production off shore? How much of our children's liberty are we going to squander at the demand of elitists and extremists?
The 200 jobs and revitalized forest that could have been had from this timber sale mean nothing to us as we passively allow ourselves to be led into bondage in the name of environmentalism.
Wayne Hunt
Price