Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Salvage Logging Trucks On Our Road...

Dozens of these trucks share our road. The Salvage logging (rape) continues, despite a wood glut that has reduced prices to a mere pittance. Wildfires are a boon to the logging companies--as they mine the forests with nearly no restrictions. All rules go out the window.

They take all the best trees; many of which would have lived and (having survived the fire) would have passed on their superior genetic stock to the next generation of forests. The clear cuts above our household turn the mountains into a denuded, empty, lifeless place. The runoff will clog the trout streams, now that the biomass is gone.

Studies indicate that letting the burned areas recover (without being logged) is the best thing. Best for the forests that is (and not for the logging companies wallets). We have enough wood right now. No need to mine more trees!

By the way, I called our County Supervisor to complain about the hazards of meeting such large trucks on single lane roads. His reply was: "The loggers have more of a right to be there than you do!".

So why did the county decide to divide up the parcels that our house sits on some twenty years ago? If they didn't want us to be here, they certainly could have not permitted the lots to be divided.

1 comment:

Ruahines said...

Kia ora Allan,
And it seems in "troubled economic times" saving jobs is far important than saving the earth. We are battling the power companies over here who have their greedy profit driven eyes on every hillside and river they can possibly imagine a scheme for. Thanks for Speaking Out.
Cheers,
Robb