Put Timber Policy in the Hands of Loggers
Washington, D.C., political dignitaries met in June of last year to discuss forestry issues. Let’s take a look at one of the issues that was discussed at that conference.
At the head of the list is how to deal with the 40 percent damage inflicted on our national forest system. 40 percent? That’s a lot of wood! We have a little over 900 million acres of national timber here in the U.S. We are looking at trillions in lost revenue of the finest building material on the planet because of poor forestry management, resulting in out-of-control forest fires.
Now, who would you prefer having as stewards and caretakers of our precious timber belt, loggers or the government? A trillion dollars, right now, would go a long way in eliminating some of our national debt.
This devastating problem that crippled the Northwest began unraveling when former President Bill Clinton decided to boot loggers out of the woods 22 years or so ago because of environmental intervention regarding that spotted owl hoax that was nothing more than propaganda. He even went so far as to lock all gates of our national parks so loggers would never cut down another tree. Was that a smart move? If you want to eliminate the logging industry, it was.
Where are we at now with this timber issue? Currently, our select political forestry group priorities have been focused on forest fires but have shifted to budgetary issues of fighting forest fires. If loggers had remained in the woods and not been treated so rudely, this issue would never have come up.
Loggers would have adjusted timber harvesting techniques to meet stricter environmental impact regulations, which they did. Weyerhaeuser Timber Co. submitted a new timber harvesting plan titled “Sustained High Yield Harvesting” to the 7th District Court in San Francisco, but the court judge turned it down. That plan was a good one and would have saved the logging industry.
What we have now is a debate or haggling among non-professional loggers over non-profitable suggestions among several competing governmental agencies that has been going on for years now. And what good has it done? That’s not leadership by any sense of the word, but a step backward to becoming a third world country.
Robert Bonnie, undersecretary of the Forest Service, summed it up by mentioning that, “Even if you gave the Forest Service the tools and equipment they need, they still couldn’t handle it.” What does that tell you? It tells me if we don’t do something in the near future, like take guardianship of our timber belt out of government control, we are liable to lose it all.
You will have your answer in a few short months when forest fires consume more of our precious timber this summer while President Barack Obama sits ideally by and twiddles his thumbs, as usual.
Art Reynolds
Chehalis
America Has Departed From Biblical Foundation
“And justice is turned backward, and righteousness stands far away; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.” Isaiah spoke these words to the rebellious nation of Israel some 2,800 years ago. Israel had broken covenant with Jehovah God and was experiencing God’s judgment. Isaiah’s message, though ancient in time, speaks right to the heart of America’s dire situation today.
America, likewise, has departed from the Biblical framework that was at the heart of its historic foundation. These moral principles were engraved on the very walls of justice in its courtrooms and halls of Congress. Even its centers of learning were initially established to perpetuate the Christian message of hope and trust in God as the very basis of freedom and liberty in the new world.
But tragically it has, likewise, turned from God and true liberty so it is now experiencing God’s displeasure and judgment. There are really only two masters one can serve:
(1) The Biblical God who gives fullness of life and great joy, or
(2) Satan, who is the father of lies and ultimate death.
One can track the outward spiritual decline in America in correlation to her rejection of the Christian gospel starting with the banning of prayer in the schools leading to where we are today. Christianity being under total assault, and from our own government no less. “Truth is fallen in the street.”
“Justice is turned backward.” Hillary Clinton, James Corney (director of the FBI), Loretta Lynch (attorney general of the U.S.) is all that has to be said to prove that point.
It has now become a hate crime to speak the truth in the marketplace, if it happens to offend someone. Even now our colleges are required to provide safe zones for protection from biblical truth. That speaks clearly to the issue of “equity cannot enter.” Instead “they trust in confusion and speak lies; they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.” The wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted. It is no wonder “righteousness stands far away;” it’s forced to.
Based on God’s truth and not Satan’s lies, it should be obvious to all that there is really only one solution for America’s dilemma. A changing of the White House occupant will matter little if America, as a people, refuses to repent and turn back to the true God. Barring that, war(s), desolation, death and ultimate destruction lies ahead. America has truly arrived at imminent crossroads. Which road will it take? Which road are you on?
Dick Knolls
Centralia
