But today, as in his time, justice is drying up fast. But then the condition of the land was considered to be a reflection of the spiritual health - or lack of it - of the people. Today our land is sick. Too often people are not treating the land right. The Salvage Logging Law is just one example of this deadening mistreatment.
The Salvage Logging Rider was signed into law this summer by President Clinton as part of the FY 95 Recessions Bill. Then the President assured the nation that all environmental laws would be adhered to in the sale of over seven billion board feet of public timber that this law encourages the cutting of over the next 2 years. However, this law effectively blocks the right of citizens to appeal or sue regarding any of these sales. This right - the right to redress - is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Citizens exercising this right have often been the only thing standing between a forest and a disaster.
Even when judicial review of logging plans was available to citizens - usually at great cost - it only helped to slow the mistreatment of the land. For instance, salmon, whose health is dependent upon the health of coastal forests, were pushed to the brink of extinction then, and 100 stocks of anadromous fish actually did die forever.
This law applies to any timber sale on the National Forest that has a component of burned, diseased or dying trees in it. Furthermore, it applies to all sales in Option 9 Forests, even if every tree is sound and vigorous.
Even the wisdom of salvage logging burned forest is very questionable if the long-term viability of the forest counts for anything. In salvage logging operations, large trees which are important to the recovery of the site are removed and taken to the sawmill. Large trees have commercial value. Their branches, logging residue, and the smaller trees are left behind. This makes the area even more susceptible to serious fire once again. Furthermore, plantations of uniform trees are often planted on the site further increasing the danger of having the whole area destroyed by future fire. The roading these activities require commonly causes serious erosion of soils already damaged by fire and more sediment runoff into adjacent streams.
Dr. Bill Ferrel a renowned forest ecologist who is very familiar with this issue, calls salvage logging a "double whammy". Due to white man's suppression of fires and the consequent build-up of fuels, fires now often severely impact the forest and soils. This damage is further compounded by the stress logging operations place on the site. This results in some dollars going from the taxpayers pockets to the coffers of a few individuals. Salvage logging sales rarely if ever pay for themselves. Damaged forests are unproductive forests. The results are the forest site and posterity both get a "double whammy".
Another serious problem with this salvage logging law is that is encourages arson. "Light it, fight it, log it!" This becomes a meal ticket in many rural areas. In 1992 63 arson fires were started around the mountain town of Hayfork alone. People need jobs promoting forest health, not destroying it!
A report titled, "Wildfire and Salvage Logging" by eight academic experts, published in March 1995 presents these and other important considerations. This report is available from the Pacific Rivers Council at P.O. Box 10798, Eugene, OR 97440 for $10 or $5 for members.
On the Wild and Scenic South Fork of the Trinity River stands a vibrant living testament to nature's ability to heal burned forest that man did not salvage log or "treat". It stands right next to a bleak almost lifeless area that was salvaged logged. Both areas burned in 1987. To date the only salvage logging sale that was stopped was this proposed 19 million board foot sale in the South Fork Roadless Area. This proposal was particularly outrageous although the U.S.F.S. had a parade of excuses for doing it. Local residents of Citizens for Better Forestry and South Fork Mountain Defense Committee tried to negotiate the deletion of particularly damaging cutblocks, but the Forest Defense Fund with the help of experts Drs. Bill Ferrell, Robert R. Curry, William Bedard, Terry Roelofs, and Alan B. Franklin went to court to stop this sale. They proved to the federal court that if this sale was allowed to proceed it would destroy the remaining steelhead and chinook fishery in the South Fork of the Trinity River; would destroy northern spotted owl habitat in a large swath; and fully half of the trees that the defendants claimed were dead or dying trees were live healthy ones. But this effort cost $1.2 million dollars, none of which the judge awarded to the plaintiffs.
This is presented in the video "Public Forests: Plunder or Promise?" produced by Citizens for Better Forestry. For a free copy write CBF, P.O. Box 1297, Hayfork, CA 96041. Additional copies are $10. Visit this still beautiful and rugged area from your armchair. See what salvage logging did to this forest and hear the music composed and sung by local people.
Although Amos - the wise old man of long ago - foresaw dire consequences resulting from the people's selfish behavior, he did have great hope. We should also. Working together to stop this law and to encourage and support just and right relationships to the land will be rewarded.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1996
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited