A DOZEN GOOD REASONS TO SUPPORT
AN END TO LOGGING ON PUBLIC LANDS

1 ) PUBLIC LANDS BELONG TO THE PEOPLE: Public lands belong to all Americans and to future generations. Our natural heritage should not be liquidated for the short-term profit of private corporations.

2) NATIVE FOREST AND HABITAT PROTECTION ARE IMPORTANT: Less than 5% of America's original forest cover remains, almost entirely on public lands. (National Geographic, Sept. 1990) Native Forests play an important role in creating soils and mh1imizing soil erosion, lessening flood and drought, and maintaining clean air. The National Forests also contain over half of this nation's remaining wildlife habitat. (Brown, Les, et. al. World Watch Institute, "State of the World", 1991)

3) TIMBER SUPPLY: Only 12.3% of the United States' timber supply comes from our national forests. ("Forest Resources of the United States, 1992" Powell, Faulkner, et. al. U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report RM-234, Sept. 1993)

4) WASTE: One out of every two trees cut in this country is wasted through inefficient utilization and lack of recycling. Postel, Sandra and John C. Ryan, "Reforming Forestry" Sate of the World, 1991 ) Eliminating this waste would save more than twice the amount cut on all public forests. Despite the existence of alternative pulp fibers such as hemp and kenaf, about half of all trees cut in the U.S. and the world each year are turned into paper products. 50% of the landfill waste volume in America is wood and paper fiber.

5) DIRECT SUBSIDIES: The public lands logging program operates at a net loss of almost I billion dollars of taxpayer money a year, due to the fact that taxpayers, not industry, pay for timber sale administration, logging road construction, replanting and restoration. From 1980 to 1991, the U.S. Forest Service timber program operated at a net loss of $7.3 billion. (Hearing before the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Subcommittee", Committee on Governmental Operations; testimony of Congressional Research staff member Robert Wolf)

6) INDIRECT COSTS: Costs of public land deforestation to fisheries, and the tourism and recreation industries are incalculably large. In April of 1996, the Forest Service issued a report which predicts that, by the year 2000, recreation, hunting and fishing on National Forests will contribute over 30 times more to the national economy than the National Forest logging program. This prompted Senator Ted Stevens, it-Alaska, to proclaim, "It looks as though the Sierra Club's position will be achieved by the year 2000: no timber production from National Forests." ("Should the Forest Service Be Abolished?", Register-Guard, 4126196)

7) JOBS: If the billions of dollars currently spent directly and indirectly subsidizing the logging of public lands were redirected into ecological restoration jobs, tens of thousands of people could be employed restoring native biodiversity rather than destroying it. Not one job need be lost.

8) AUTOMATION AND EXPORTS: Between 1979 and 1988, while logging levels increased, more than 26,000 timber jobs disappeared. In 1979 it took almost five workers to produce one million board feet of timber. By 1990, due to automation it took only three workers to produce the same amount. (Washington and Oregon Sate Dept. of Employment, 1991) In the Southeast, new chip mills being built can consume 200 square miles of forests in 3-5 years, while employing as few as 4-12 workers per shift. In the Northwest, nearly half of all that is cut is exported raw or minimally processed (U.S. Commerce Dept.). In Washington State, the world leader in raw log exports, every million board feet shipped overseas takes 7 direct jobs and 14 more indirect jobs with it. (WA Dept. of Employment Security, "Impacts on Employment of Timber Supply Declines", 1990)

9) BENEFITS TO PRIVATE TIMBERLAND OWNERS: Subsidized public timber artificially lowers wood prices. Ending commercial logging on public lands wild greatly increase the value of private timberlands and the timber they contain. This means that private owners will be able to cut less trees and make more money. This will provide an incentive for better ecological management of private timberlands.

10) PUBLIC SUPPORT: A nationwide poll conducted by the U.S. Forest Service found that 58% of Americans who expressed an opinion support ending all commercial resource extraction on public lands. ("Forest Service Values Poll Questions, Results and Analysis", Bruce Hammond, Section 3) Most, if not all polls are finding the same thing; Americans are strongly in favor of environmental protection. Even a poll conducted for Newt Gingrich found that the public prefers "more environmental regulations" over "cutting regulation" by a margin of 2- 1. (Helvarg, David "How Green was my Rhetoric", In These Times, 4129196, p.15)

11) LAWLESSNESS: In 1991, federal judge William Dwyer, in a legal opinion, accused the federal land agencies of a "systematic and deliberate refusal" to comply with environmental laws. The agencies' tendency to encourage timber theft has become infamous. Many times when citizens file lawsuits to stop the Forest Service from breaking the law, the Forest Service will argue in court that they are above the law and citizens cannot stop them from violating the law.

12) THE TIME HAS COME: Even the timber industry is starting to accept that the public lands logging program is a dead horse. Plum Creek Timber Co. President Rick Volley acknowledged that logging would end soon on federal public lands, calling it "an acknowledgment of a trend " Industry may resign itself to eliminating logging of public forests, he predicted. ("Timber executive says federal harvests may end", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1/12/95)