Forest Service Alters the Way it Views Trees
11/6/98
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Title: Forest Service Alters the Way it Views Trees
Source: Denver Post
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 11/6/98
Byline: Mark Eddy
Nov. 6 - A fundamental change is taking place within the U.S. Forest
Service.
Industrial forests, where logging and mining were king, are quickly
becoming a thing of the past. The public now prizes forests for their
scenic and recreational value, and the U.S. Forest Service is responding
to that change in attitude, Mike Dombeck, chief of the U.S. Forest
Service, told a group of students at the University of Denver Law School.
"We in the Forest Service need to be talking less about what we can take
from the land and more about what we leave on the land,'' Dombeck said.
People want to see a natural landscape, not mountainsides denuded of trees
by clear-cutting or vast stands of timber burnt by catastrophic fires or
trees wiped out by insect kills, said Dombeck, who was the featured
speaker at the law school's annual Carver Lecture.
"People are interested in scenic beauty and what the landscape looks
like,'' he said. "The whole idea about recreational use is a reflection of
a change in values.''
To give people what they want from their lands, Dombeck and his agency are
rethinking traditional forest management, he said. But with that change of
thought comes resistance that must be overcome with education.
"We've got to help people understand why the land is important,'' he said,
pointing out that 80 percent of the people in the U.S. live in cities.
Dombeck's proposed moratorium on road building has created a controversy.
Within two months, a temporary moratorium on road building in national
forests should take effect, Dombeck said. Managers then will consider a
permanent strategy for roads. There are more than 300,000 miles of roads -
typically built so timber companies can reach stands of trees - in
national forests, but annual funding allows for maintenance of only 40
percent of those miles.
Without new roads, timber companies will be restricted in where and how
they can harvest logs. But it doesn't make sense to build more roads,
Dombeck said. His position has been applauded by environmental groups that
have long protested the Forest Service's practice of selling timber in
roadless areas - and attacked by timber interests. Recreation also creates
controversy, as those who want to preserve wilderness line up against
those who want to expand ski areas.
While environmental groups support Dombeck's ideas, they want the agency
to designate more forest land as wilderness so it can never be developed.
"We applaud the chief's new philosophy that our forests are better left
standing than on logging trucks, said Suzanne Jones, who handles forest
issues for the Wilderness Society. "But we don't want to just trade in
clearcuts for more ski runs. We urge the Forest Service to keep remaining
wild areas wild.''
Dombeck was asked a number of questions about the Forest Service's
approval of the controversial expansion at the Vail ski area. While
pleading ignorance of the specifics of the case, he said the issue
illustrates how his agency will have to work with all groups to find a
balance.