It was sad to see the Deseret News editorial published Nov. 17 that adopted the myopic rhetoric of the timber industry in opposing the roadless forest protection plan. It failed on all factual counts.
It perpetuates a cynical, self-serving myth of commercial timber harvest as a way to prevent fire, and that non-intervention somehow leads to forest death, despite Europeans arriving barely an ecological moment ago. This myth has been roundly rejected by independent scientists, the General Accounting Office and the Forest Service's own research, and it must be put to rest.
It worries at length about forgone timber harvest, while neglecting its economic impact. Taxpayers pay dearly to subsidize timber harvest, and for all the bemoaning of Western politicians about economic restriction, the federal government has been the West's development booster for 100 years, and it has operated a massive welfare program through resource extraction. Meanwhile, great watershed, recreation, scenery and other amenity values are forgone. National forest timber harvest is a net economic loss.
It neglects the immense ecological value of roadless forests. We have plunged the planet into a mass extinction rivaled only five times in its 3.5 billion years. We know that large, contiguous, inviolate tracts of land are the best survival hope for many fellow creatures in the 21st century.
The petty, parochial arguments of the Deseret News pale in comparison and do injustice to such a bold, yet pragmatic, science-driven initiative.
Jim Steitz
Logan