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Forestry is such a controversial topic, that it is rare to hear other than the two end points of the argument.  From the Tree Whacker side that we need to cut for the money and the Tree Hugger side that we need to preserve every tree.  Well, we really can do both if we go at it rationally.  This wouldn't be "logging as usual", nor would it be hands off no matter what. 

We must realize that as Amricans and Oregonians we consume an awful lot of wood, paper and energy and it has to come from somewhere!  We must cut down our consumption, duh, but what we do consume will come from someone's forest, so it should be from ours, responsibly done, not in someone elses back yard where we don't need to watch and it can "just get shipped here", using more and wasting more, resources.

Also, a bill in the legislature doesn't create a market for newly whacked forests, so we need to consider how our forest operations can provide both forest health and valuable products, through a stewardship approach.  There is much to the topic of stewardship, as a philosophy and a way of managing.

I'm happy to discuss specifics.

Yours; Forest Dan      (www.forestdan.com)

posted 3 years, 11 months ago
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Listening to comments on this situation, Gretchen Morganson of the NY Times has come the closest to the truth; saying that all of the money flowing into the system in good times of selling these financial products was like feeding at the trough, though no-one, including default insurance issuers had any intention of ever paying off their implied obligations. Several experts have commented how we need to keep the system functonal so that it can continue to serve us and that we need to keep these valuable people in the business, no matter their levels of compensation. Really? We need people to keep making up new types of fraudulent schemes to sell, and governments that guarantee the thieves existence? Would we be so much worse off with a few executions and a realization that it won't be tolerated? Would it be un-American to ask for obligations to be met, and if not, then for the solution to come out of the pocket that was stuffed with the money in the first place? These aren't "acidic" investments, they are peoples homes and most likely quite modest compared to the mansions built on this criminal fraud. Let the heads roll.

posted 4 years, 7 months ago
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Thinning is an effective method of forest manangement that accomplishes many goals. Since we have populated the planet and are consuming tremendous ammounts of all resources including its forests, it only makes sense to manage them on a sustainable basis that thinning is a part of. Small timber and bio-fules are inherently low-value and costly to selctively harvest, transport and process however, especially if using equipment and methods that were designed to harvest high value logs with great size and associated costs and impact. Not only is acceptance of forest operations neccessary to allow us to funtion as a society rather than importing all of our vast consumption and ignoring the real impacts, we must also deveop and acccept new methods and tools to do so. I've found it quite do-able, appropriate and enjoyable.

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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