World News
Larger cuts threaten forest recreation
By STEVE KATZ
Of the Emerald
Faced with orders to increase the timber harvest
and a simultaneous cutback in funding and manpower,
the U.S. Forest Service is having difficulties meeting its
other obligations and duties.
These other duties include providing more outdoor
recreation opportunities than any other federal agency.
In other words, maintenance of campgrounds, hiking
trails, access roads, watershed protection,
reforestation, to name a few will all be severely
jeopardized
Last year’s budget of $562 million was reduced to
$479 million for the 1973-1974 fiscal year. Yet at the same
time the Forest Service has been directed to increase the
annual timber cut to 11.8 billion board feet, up from 10.8
billion board feet in 1972. Thus an additional cost of
roughly $20 million will be needed for the initial expenses
of just the expanded timber harvest alone.
Zane Smith, Willamette National Forest supervisor,
is constantly working with the many problems of the
Forest Service. The roughest problem in his mind is the
increase in the national annual timber cut of 11.8 billion
board feet. Smith explained that the additional timber to
be cut “puts a burden on foresters to cut all that extra
timber and still maintain good forest service.”
ANALYSIS
THE PRESIDENT’S Office of Management and the
Budget (OMB) originally raised the Forest Service’s
manpower ceiling by 450, (up to the June 1973 high of
20,854) to meet the required increased timber cut.
By this June the ceiling will be down to 19,260, yet the
timber must be cut.
“The publicity was all on the additional manpower
and never anything on the withdrawals of manpower,”
said Smith.
Orders for the manpower reductions as well as in
creased timber cutting came from the White House. In
line with the President’s belt tightening, the Forest
Service requested the lowered budget of $479 million.
Richard Gale, associate professor of sociology at the
University and past chairman of the local Sierra Club
group, is angered by the President. “The tragedy is that
the cuts are caused by executive action, it’s Nixon.
Congress has been nullified by Nixon.”
Gale sees little hope for the Forest Service in the
immediate future. The problem will continue as long as
Nixon stays in office, he says. “There is no way out of it.
It’s very disappointing.”
GALE’S CONCERNS lie not only with the Forest
Service’s problems, but with alerting the public as to
who is responsible. He suggests putting up signs on any
campgrounds closed due to the present situation. The
signs, according to Gale, should read, ‘"Hiis
campground closed by Nixon.”
Zane Smith is also concerned with alerting the
public to the Forest Service’s problems, as well as to
who is responsible for them.
“This is a source of much frustration, in that people
think it’s doing,” says Smith. It’s a congressional
mandate, he adds. “Most of us are good soldiers and do
the best we can. We are trying to tell Washington that the
people need wilderness and beauty.”
Smith sees the imbalance in Forest Service duties
slowly growing with unfinanced recreational facilities
losing out to timber cutting. “Hie chief of the Forest
Service and many others including myself have spoken
out against the problems we are facing,” Smith said.
THE POSSIBILITY of closing or reducing National
Forest facilities are very real to Smith. He thinks the
public is getting the “short end of the stick.”
“We have explored the possibility of closing down
campgrounds,” said Smith. Perhaps just sections of
certain campgrounds will be closed. Less maintenance
and less policing of campgrounds are also being looked
at as possibilities. Many economy measures must be
taken to stretch the dollar.
As for improving or expanding the National Forest
recreation system, Smith was pessimistic. There are
just “very very limited funds” for capital improve
ments, new camping areas, and trails,” he explained.
There is no easy solution to the Forest Service’s
problem The reductions experienced are part of general
economy measures seen everywhere.
The order to increase timber cutting means that the
Forest Service must expand it’s timber cutting
programs. These programs include responsibility for
deciding what pieces of land are available in the
National Forests, and then calculating how much timber
that land will yield. These pieces of land are analyzed
thoroughly by the Forest Service and an environmental
analysis report is made.
Measurements of quality and quantity of timber are
also made. Specifications as to operating procedures,
logging roads, and spacing and planting of new trees
after cutting, are all accomplished before bids are in
vited by the Forest Service.
The Forest Service selects the bid from private
companies and then supervises the cutting, all 11.8
billion board feet of it.
THE MONEY the private logging companies pay for
harvesting the timber goes to the U.S. Treasury.
Twenty-five per cent comes back to local counties for
roads and schools. Lane, Linn, and Marion counties
together received a little less than $11 million for the last
fiscal year.
Some of the timber money also goes toward
replanting, which is behind schedule. There is a backlog
of some 5 million acres of unforested land, largely due to
forest fires, acquisition of treeless land, and seedling
loss. Two thousand such acres are in the Willamette
National Forest.
Photo by Sam Frear, courtesy U.S.D.A. Forest Service
/■
N
In this issue...
Impossible to believe, but Italy’s political situation is
becoming even more chaotic than ever. An approaching
referendum on divorce is literally splitting the nation.
Meanwhile, in Paris, the government is suffering from
an acute case of embarrassment over a Watergate-style
attempt to bug a newspaper’s offices.
Well, the Ducks met the Falcons, and our team got its
wings clipped in an upset basketball contest over the
weekend.
Oregon wrestlers fared much better. They demolished
the Washington Huskies, who were top-ranked and
favored.