I received this via email:

Moderator's Note:

The House and Senate have passed different forms of the Healthy
Forest Initiative. The Senate is balking at entering into the joint
conference to resolve differences.

The natural factors of draught and bark beetle are not limited by
wilderness boundaries; nor is fire.

Is filing more than 180 law suites during a four-year period over
forest thinning or defensible space proposals promoting sound
environmental policy?

How many more lives need to be lost? How many more homes need to be
lost? How many more acres of wildlife habitat need to be burned?

I urge you to call your senator and demand they save lives, protect
property and protect our natural resources for the destruction of
wildfires.

******************************


<http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2003/11/08/opinion/commentary/11_7_0320_45_00.txt>http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2003/11/08/opinion/commentary/11_7_0320_45_00.txt

Fires stoke forest debate


By: TED HILLOCK - For the Californian

The eight major Southern California fires destroyed 745,829 acres and
3,373 homes, and killed 20 people. The fires, which quickly turned
into raging infernos fueled by years and years of forest
mismanagement, were much worse than they should have been, and
consequently the loss to all was much worse than it should have been.

The high degree of combustibility caught virtually nobody by
surprise. In 1994, the National Commission on Wildfire Disasters
stated, "millions of acres of forest in the western United States
pose an extreme fire hazard from the buildup of dry, highly flammable
forest fuels."

Many others locally were saying the same thing, including Richard
Minnich, a professor of earth sciences at UC Riverside and a
specialist on the Lake Arrowhead forest. The problem was simply that
the forests were getting too overgrown. The tree population was so
dense that it became ridge-to-ridge combustible fuel. This density
also contributed to the infestation of the bark beetle that killed
millions of trees.

How were the forests allowed to become overgrown when every forest
manager would tell you it is unhealthy for forests to be so
overgrown? Well, as Minnich said, "You couldn't even cut the limb off
a damn tree without getting a permit. These people wanted to save
every leaf."

"These people" are, of course, the highly sensitive and caring
environmentalists who think they know better than the trained and
experienced forest managers on how best to "save" a forest.

After three-quarters of a million acres went up in smoke, I think we
can safely say that the environmentalists were wrong and the
professional forest managers can say I told you so.

Every time the forest managers tried to properly manage our
combustible environment they ran into a brick wall of
environmentalists. The Center for Biological Diversity filed more
than 180 lawsuits during a four-year period whenever forest thinning
or the defensible space distance was proposed.

But finally it appears that the massive loss to the environment and
the human suffering is now about to place the management of the
forests into the hands of professionals.

President Bush is proposing the "Healthy Forest Initiative," which
would allow for the thinning of the forests, some by logging
companies. Stay tuned for the debate on that. Even with the damage so
obvious as a result of overgrown forests and shrubs I am sure the
Center for Biological Diversity will not move from its "nocompromise"
position, so getting approval to properly manage the forest will
still be easier said than done.

Monica Bond with the Center for Biological Diversity in Idyllwild
indicated as much when she said, "We think some people are
shamelessly exploiting this tragedy as an excuse to log big trees in
remote areas. There is no need to do that."

That type of comment from the CBD shows whose safety they feel is
more important. Let's hope that these type of people no longer
dictate life-or-death policies in the management of our resources.

Ted Hillock of Temecula is a regular columnist for The Californian.
E-mail: <mailto:thillock@rancongroup.com.>thillock@rancongroup.com.


--

Save the world, kill an eco-terrorist!

My next bumper sticker

Here's an oldie but a goodie:



ENERGY COMPROMISE CALLS FOR BURNING
FOSSIL FUELS, ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISTS
Alternate "Green Fuel" Non-Renewable, But Won't Require Drilling

Washington, D.C. (SatireWire.com) — In a compromise that calls for the left and right to work together, energy company executives today proposed burning both fossil fuels and environmental activists, who officials estimated may be able to provide 2 percent of the country's energy output "for a couple of hours, anyway."

"It doesn't sound like much, but I think the environmental lobby would agree that every little bit helps," said Giles Fermat, president of the National Energy Producers Association, which will voluntarily foot the bill to refit plants.

Environmentalists, however, were split over their use as so-called "green fuel." In California, Sierra Club spokesman Martin Gallagher blasted the proposal as "another short-term fix" that would do little to decrease the nation's energy dependence. Like oil, he insisted, people who closely follow environmental issues are a non-renewable source of energy.

"The burning of environmental activists will provide only a brief respite, and may eventually discourage others from becoming environmental activists," said Gallagher. "Once we've been depleted, what then?"

"Then we'll drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge," replied Fermat.

"Over my dead body!" countered Gallagher. "Oh... right."

At an emergency meeting of Greenpeace, meanwhile, officers conceded the plan would encourage the group's 2.5 million members to be "really, really active activists — well, for a short while." They also noted the alternative source of energy would not require the harmful drilling or strip-mining used to extract other forms of fuel.

Several members, however, complained that vehicles used to transport activists to power facilities would further pollute the environment. The issue was settled when members voted to walk to the plants.


Copyright © 2002, SatireWire.