STORM2K

HOT DA**......MOVE over environ"mentalists", here we come with our chainsaws in one hand and the legislation in the other, we're LOGGING and THINNING our forests and there is NUTHIN' you can do about now!



Bush signs bill, hopes it will curb nation's wildfires

Robert Gehrke
Associated Press
Dec. 4, 2003 12:00 AM


WASHINGTON - More timber and brush can be cut and cleared with less environmental scrutiny under a law President Bush signed Wednesday. He said the initiative will help protect communities from devastating wildfires.

"This law will not prevent every fire, but it is an important step forward, a vital step to make sure we do our duty to protect our nation's forests," said Bush, who stood before rows of wildland firefighters. "We'll help save lives and property, and we'll help protect our forests from sudden and needless destruction."

The Healthy Forests Restoration Act is the first major forest management legislation in a quarter-century. It seeks to speed the harvesting of trees in overgrown woodlands and insect-infested trees on 20 million acres of federal forest land most at risk to wildfires.

It does that by scaling back required environmental studies. Also, it limits appeals and directs judges to act quickly on legal challenges to logging plans.

Critics said the bill would let companies cut down large old-growth trees in the name of fire prevention.

"There's a real danger that the president's pen might as well be a chain saw," said Amy Mall, a forestry specialist with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., sponsor of the legislation, said those complaints come groups out of touch with the mainstream.

"Of course when you thin out forests you're going to have logging. You're going to have to," he said. "But people want these forests managed. People want the science used."

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said language added to Bush's initial proposal will protect old-growth and large-diameter trees.

Legislation aimed at speeding decisions on where to allow timbering in national forests had languished in Congress for three years until the recent fires in California, which burned 750,000 acres and destroyed 3,640 houses, forced a compromise.

Despite the California fires, 2003 was a below-average fire year, with 3.8 million acres burned so far. Twenty-eight firefighters died battling the blazes, according to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation. Nearly 7 million acres were charred last year.

The Bush administration estimates that 190 million acres are at heightened risk for a severe wildfire; that's an area the size of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming combined.



Dennis

I wouldn't get out that Black & Decker just yet...we haven't heard from the infamous 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and we WILL.

I CANNOT even BEGIN to tell you just how EXCITED I am now......my home may still be in danger BUT....the *tree huggers* have FINALLY been put in their place!

Dennis

That's TRUE BUT......as I post this, I know for a fact that the thinning project in the Rodeo Chediski Complex Burn area is going ahead FULL STEAM!

Dennis

That is great news for all of us who believe in a clean enviroment but as Bill said it may not be over but things are rolling in your favor Dennis.

This will cut into our business quite a bit, the Federal environmental impact studies and assessments BUT.....I would much rather pick up a few more landscaping jobs and know that these *Acorn and Oatmeal Granola* types have FINALLY been put in their place. We'll still do studies and impact statements for the state government but the need for the federal studies will drop by some 60%, as most of the land surrounding us, is National Forest property.

I can't WAIT to see the look in these peoples eyes when the old growth trees are cut, thinned to make room for the smaller, healthier trees.

Dennis

Finally...a little sensibility!

Glad to hear the news, Dennis.

WAAHOO!!! IT'S ABOUT TIME!!!

Now, where is that HUGE roll of duct tape to put over the mouths of the 9th Circuit Court's Judges mouths??

Great News Dennis. Nothing like a man and his chainsaw to send an Environmentalist to the nuthouse.

the 9th has and WILL be overturned by the supreme court...not worried They are a bunch of liberal IDIOTS in my opinion

Aaron

LOL.... I love how you wrote environ"mentalist". I do respect their love for the environment, but when the situation is as dangerous as it is, they need to realize our safety comes first. Glad to hear the news Dennis!

mrschad wrote:LOL.... I love how you wrote environ"mentalist". I do respect their love for the environment, but when the situation is as dangerous as it is, they need to realize our safety comes first. Glad to hear the news Dennis!

I agree 100% Jen! That's great news Dennis!

Good news Dennis. I understand that the western residents have long resented the "easterners" telling them what to do with their land.

Ed...your 100% right, MOST of the radical environ"mental" groups ARE based on the east coast. I'm NOT dis'n ANYONE that lives back there but they don't have a CLUE about the west!

Dennis

I'll post this website once again for those of you who haven't seen it......a GREAT link to click on is the "Mental" one near the bottom of the page!

http://www.azfire.org/

Dennis

Ok, I'm gonna catch alot of flack for this, but so be it. I understand the need for thinning, but what about the environmenal impact this cutting and logging will have? Aren't the old trees where some of our birds prefer to nest? And what about the impact those logging trucks rolling in and out will have on the habitat for various creatures? Aren't we talking about a possible secondary succession? No, I'm not putting more value on critter life than human life but, IMO, once again it seems to me that public policy is REACTING to a situation rather than being PROACTIVE prior to an undesirable situation occurring. And yes, I am one of those "tree huggers" that some on here view as "mutants" for lack of a better term. Just trying to voice an opinion for the "other side".

Well eb4480, my wife and I own a business called Arizona Mountain Environmental Services, we do environmental impact studies and assessments, so in *some* cases, our studies influence the thinning and logging of some areas.

#1- No, logging old growth trees is benefical to the health of a forest. Most of the old growth trees, for all intents and purposes, have quite growing....cutting them allows the smaller trees with DBH'S of 5+" to thrive. It opens the canopy cover and also allows for more of a Bio Diversity. The theory and that's EXACTLY what this is, a theory, that wildlife prefer the older growth trees for habitat, is NONSENSE!

#2- Mechanical logging methods have improved dramaticly over the past 5 years, the impact to an area is MINIMAL. Instead of chainsaws there are now mechanical *clippers* so to speak, it's a balloon tire tractor that goes right up to a tree, clamps on, then makes a *clean cut* with these HUGE jaws. This prevents the tree from damaging smaller trees, shrubs, this machine simply lays the tree down in stacks in a cental location CLOSE to a main road so the impact of a logging truck is also reduced.


I don't know if you knew this, or even care..... but my sister in law just lost her home in Julian California due to wildfires, I was evacuated in June of 2002 due to the Rodeo Chediski Fire, put on STANDBY evacuation just this past summer due to the Kinishba Fire.....I lost a VERY good friend in a wildfire this past summer, he was a wildland fire fighter. I will FIGHT to my dying day to STOP this kind of RADICAL ENVIRON"MENTAL"ISM!! I've seen my homeland, the Fort Apache Indian Reservation laid WASTE because of this kind of thinking that comes from those who live in *Crystal Palaces*, who's only motive is to stop the thinning of old growth trees.

Dennis

Sound minds...


In the 1920's we were cutting twice as many trees per year as we were growing; today we are growing 37% more trees per year than we are cutting.
In 1990, over 400 trees were planted for every man, woman and child in America.

A full one-third of the United States is still forested.

Americans use 90 million short tons of paper and paperboard a year.

Corrugated boxes are used to ship 95% of all manufactured goods in the United States.

Inch for inch, wood is 16 times more efficient as an insulator than concrete; 413 times more efficient than steel and 2000 times more efficient than aluminum.

80% of all furniture is made of wood.

It takes 21 times more energy to produce a concrete floor than a wooden one.

TREES ARE RENEWABLE, RECYCLABLE AND BIODEGRADABLE.


http://www.olypen.com/solidarity/forest.htm


Dennis

P/S......as blizzard had in his sig at one time, "Have you ever tried plastic toilet tissue?"

Ya know......I'm NOT for clear cutting by ANY MEANS, I "LOVE" our forests, but you see, there's the problem, you can LOVE a forest to death and that's EXACTLY what's happening right now. We have lost over "200 MILLION" old growth trees in just the past 2 years to the Western Balsm Bark Beetle, NOW.......I ask, did WE do this, are the environmentalists responsible for this infestation? "YES!" Had we been allowed to thin our forests, these trees would have had a fighting chance to stave off the beetles BUT......our forests are SO choked with undergrowth that these trees have become weakened due to the 7 years of drought we are in. "HAD" we been allowed to thin, the older trees would have been able to absorb the very limited water they need. Just ONE Ponderosa Pine that's over 200 years old, needs 65,000 GALLLONS of water per year to survive, with ALL the smaller trees that should have been cut for pulp, the BELOVED old growth trees are dying, like I said, by the MILLIONS. NOW......isn't that a SHAME??? All of this COULD have been prevented but NO!

Like I said, I LOVE the forest but dang it, let us manage our forest with science, not *Radical Environ*mental*ism!

Dennis