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. Oregon's forests
c an no longer Carry the
weight of our future on their
fragile branches
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Smith and Wyden: cocked and loaded
In the w*kt« of the nitwit Tyson'King fia*
vam. many boning fan* hav* bean upset that
they haven't town able to catch • good brawl
on the tube Hew tn lovely Oregon. howev
t?r. w* have no *mJ» problem mchm we have
been able to w»li h <cordon Smith ami Ron
VVydwo boat tip «tat is other for month*
Thi* campaign, which i* now tn it* final
stage*. ha* (men dirty from the start The lowest
moment {at least up to thi* point) wa* a pm
w yam radio ad, mad** no< by
Wydan * tampaign but by hi*
tupporlorv that blammf the
aujdwutal <l«aih of a young
Smith Food* oinplovw on
Smith htmwlf
Thu gruMom* utagn of a
tnpdy tor political gain it
uiuaueptab!*. and tboaa
n»po»»ibla lor a should b»
ashaitsmd of them solvit*
KmkJ
booth ha* also hit below the bell, most bla
tantl)! by ( homing in a television ad lha! 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