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Over the last weeks, television pictures showed a forest fire that destroyed 300 homes on Mt. Lemon, just north of Tucson, Arizona. Firefighters believe the fire will likely consume 30,000 to 40,000 acres over the next few weeks.
Last year, over a million acres of forest burned in the West, destroying many homes and businesses. Make no mistake about it: these catastrophic fires are the result of failed government environmental policy.
The Clinton Administration took a stand against allowing reasonable cutting in our national forests. The result has been a buildup of trees and other forest fuels that out of necessity should have been cleared. But extreme environmentalists, backed by that Administration, refused to allow logging on federal lands, creating a tinder box that is now exploding in fires and destroying the homes of many.
Reasonable people do not advocate clear-cutting entire forests or cutting out all of the old-growth trees, but, instead, reasonable tree-harvesting policies.
In Flagstaff, over 400 good-paying jobs have been eliminated and a paper and sawmill closed as a direct result of not allowing logging in the forests. The Bush Administration proposed a reasonable logging plan to protect old-growth trees and promote selective cutting to thin out the forests. Environmental groups, however, filed suit to stop this logging, keeping hard-working folks off the job, allowing the forest around Flagstaff to become another ticking fire bomb.
Moreover, high lumber costs continue to increase the price of new homes, pricing many buyers out of the market. Reasonable lumbering would allow the price of home building materials to drop, and thus lower the cost of housing.
The policy of the old Clinton Administration must be reversed, and the new Bush policy in this case must be embraced. The result will be healthier forests, fewer catastrophic fires, more employment, and lower lumber costs.
These benefits can be achieved without ruining the forests.
There is a reason millions of acres of privately owned forests do not burn and wreak havoc like our national forests have in the last few years. That is because they are properly managed. National forests must be, too. We see this as imperative.
Steve Marr is the former CEO of the fourth largest import-export firm in the U.S., a company which facilitated international trade for many of the largest companies in America. Currently, Steve consults with with businesses and ministries utilizing ancient Biblical principles for success in today’s marketplace. Click here to contact Steve, or visit his website at www.businessproverbs.com.
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