Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 1996)
VIEWPOINTS EDITORIALS OPINIONS LETTERS TO THE EOITOR Cutting coastal forests slashes state’s future ■ OUR OPINION: Ruling permits Forest Service. BLM to clear-cut and opens door to disaster As soon «s the weather clears till and the roads get a little safer to travel, grab some friends; Jump in * car; put it on Highway 326. and iioad west. Oregon's wintry, storm* tossed coastal waters sur rounding the Florence area are a sight to Imhold, You will not be disappointed by the breathtaking display of awesome winds and waves During your drive to the beach, make sum and pay attention to the remaining forest canopy and the hun dreds of majestic and serene, urn. stumps? Yeah, stumps taurt Friday in Eugene, U S Distric t fudge Michael Hogan again ruled in favor of the limber industry in a lawsuit that allows the gov ernment to dear-cut up to 6,300 acres of old growth forests on the Oregon and Washington coasts, This in exactly what our environment and ever diminifthing tree population d<MI nol used — morn (otMl bald spots Clear-cutting may be (hr* host of natural resource destruct ion arul mismanagement of our day Clear-cutting result* in soil erosion, destruction of wildlife habitation, lo»* of oxygen generation, and also contributes to ozone deple tion. "We are glad that lodge Hogan has finally ruled, and these sale* c an go ahead a* Congress had intended." said Jim tkusinger. presi dent of th«» Northwest Forestry Association {lirgts U'r-Guani, Jan 20). "These Umber sales are critical to the region's forest products companies " The short-sighted timber industry wants to make sure its mills stay running so it can continue to turn a prof it The industry refuses to far e the fact that the high costs of clear cutting far out* w«’tgh any short term eco nomic gains. The industry may argue that it practices reforesta tion. but reforestation does n't come dose to replacing all the environmental dam age associated with a clear cut, Planting tiny tree seedlings and sapling* does* n't keep soil erosion in check For that matter, saplings often fall victim to the very thing they are planted to prevent; they get washed out by rainfall ft sapling* do happen to sur vive the elements, many of them turn into tasty snacks for hungry' deer and elk It's time for the limber industry to let go of the fairy-tale notion that Ore gon's trees will be here for ever. They won't It's time for the industry to quit romanticising Paul Human imagery and begin facing reality. Without healthy, full forests. Oregon will <.«?«•>* to In? till? beautiful. green state that It is Tourists won't (lock here to see saplings and stumps It's ttm*» to move forward and out of our unhealthy dependency on timber It's time to stop dear-cutting The state's shift toward industry diversifir ation wiU prove to be the key to our economic and environmen tal survival. 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Wjfdta ha* spent hi* career in Washington trying lo “cut Medicare Thi* ludu:rvm» ( bum could not b* further from the irnih Wyden ha* spent hi* t»rmn riding the senior entitlement wave from reeled lull 10 MlKtiim. Om butt that both camhdate* have mad. and i* a national political trend, is (hanging thi* from a statewide 4 onte»t to a national one We have ail wtm ad* in which the Wyden campaign tell* u* in dour tone* that Smith is a follower of 'the right catechism of Speaker Mewl Gingrich and Smith ad* that Imk Wyden to Pmtidenl Bill Clinton A*tde from the fact that neither of these com parison* i* tnte —■ tax a use Smith i* much more moderate than Gingrich and Wyden t» certainly mow liberal than the president — *uch tactic* allow the candidate* to defied attention from themselves and the issues Th»* race i* a contest between two men run ning for the Senate: it i* not a statewide poll asking the question “Whom do you like better, Speaker Gingrich or President Clinton?" For both candidates to treat it as *uch is a slap in the face of Oregon's voters The culmination of alt of the negative cam paigning ha* been Wyden'* recent "no negative ad*" pledge Although at first it seemed honor able. now we can see that it was a political ad Wyden * campaign won't be running negative ads. but hi* henchmen still will Thi* way Wyden can have it both ways. He can look like the adult in the race, but he can also giggle a* hi* buddies tear Smith to shred*. The Orrgomon recently ran a cover story about thi* contest telling readers that thi* race was good for Oregon because it gave voters two cMM iUM* the future. A* we should 66 The gruesome usage of a tragedy for political gain is unacceptable, and those resfMtnsible for it should be ashamed of themselves. 55 know by now. that assessment is far from accu rate A race that ac complished what The Oregon tan claimed thia campaign doe# would center around three core questions about the future of government The first; What are the role* of the state and federal governments, and how should they relate to each other? The second Should our leaders be part of a citizen legislature as the founding father* intended, or should we be led by e arner politic can*, as we are now ' The third In what time frame and in what manner should the federal budget tie balanced? If this race were only about these thaw issues, The Oregonian'* claim would ring true because the two candidates are diametrically opposed on them However, as we all know, the world is not that simple, and a number of unanswered ques tion# in this race may bn «# important as those above Some, quite reasonably, question whether Smith, as the owner of a large-scale business, will be unbiased regarding legislation concern tng pollution, business subsidies or workers' rights Also. .Smith's vogue anti abortion statue (he says that he wants to reduce the number of abor tion# but hasn't said how he would do that) and the endorsement that he accepted from the Ore gon Citizens' Alliance have left even unit right ward-leaning voters feeling lukewarm Aa for VVyden. many voters wonder, with some degree of justification, if after 15 year# in Washington. D C. he is such a part of Beltway culture that he is out of touch with the rest of the world His inability to find Bosnia on a globe or 3uote the prices of milk and bread have caused oubt as to whether he is knowledgeable enough to represent this state If this race were between two candidates who were regarded as intelligent and held main stream views on social issues, such as Jack Roberts and Peter DeFaaio. voter# could concen trate cm the three core issue*. As it stands, we are left trying to decide between ihe lesser of two evils an unfortu nate position indeed Primo A I Fontana, a senior motoring in oco monies. is a columnist for l/ie Emerald E mail primoo/tigladstone uonrgon cdu
