Opinion
A4
Saturday, January 22, 2022
OUR VIEW
Rivers act
needs more
input
olitical hyperbole aside, U.S. Rep. Cliff
Bentz’s concerns raised during a fl oor
speech of the U.S. House of Representa-
tives regarding a bill to protect more than 4,500
miles of rivers and streams in Oregon as part of
the federal Wild and Scenic Act are valid and
deserve more than a passing glance by voters.
Bentz lambasted the River Democracy Act, a
bill sponsored by U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley and U.S.
Sen. Ron Wyden, on Jan. 11 and labeled it as a
sure way to create more, rather than fewer prob-
lems for forests in the eastern part of the state.
Bentz implied the act would leave forests
dangerously exposed to become, essentially,
tinderboxes.
At fi rst glance, the legislation — now stalled
in the congressional committee — appears to
be a commonsense way to protect the forests
and watersheds we all enjoy. Supporters of the
River Democracy Act say it would add protec-
tions to waterways, lessen wildfi re risk, enhance
drinking water, and expand recreation to help
rural economies.
The act also promises that only federal lands
would be protected while private property and
water rights would be safeguarded. A key piece
of the legislation is a move to widen the area
along protected waterways from one-quarter mile
to half a mile.
There are a few problems with the legislation,
though, not the least of which is what appears to
be a lack of input from rural lawmakers at the
county level. While supporters of the bill proudly
proclaim voter participation through “nomina-
tions” from 2,500 Oregonians, the plan triggered
resistance from several Eastern Oregon county
governments.
Commissioners in Union, Wallowa, Grant and
Malheur counties have called the legislation into
question with a variety of concerns, including
federal overreach and lack of detailed maps.
One of the act’s most serious problems,
though, isn’t visible up front. Legislation safe-
guarding public spaces is crucial and deserves
support. Yet, there are already numerous state
and federal laws on the books — including the
1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act — that provide
a fi rm foundation for conservation. Too often leg-
islation is created without a careful study of unin-
tended consequences.
The bill may appear to be a winner for urban
voters who wish to utilize Eastern Oregon as a
handy natural resource-rich theme park for tour-
ists, but for those who live and work in this area,
its possible unintended consequences are a real
worry.
To move forward, the bill needs more input
from local county lawmakers .
P
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The best management for
our forests is to stop logging
GEORGE
WUERTHNER
OTHER VIEWS
O
ne of the arguments alleged
by proponents of thinning
or logging forests is that
it would preclude wildfi res and
reduce carbon emissions from wild-
fi re. Proponents argue that more
trees survive a fi re if there has been
“active forest management.”
The problem with such ebullient
pronouncements is that they fail
to provide a full accounting of the
carbon losses and emissions.
A number of studies that
reviewed carbon emissions conclude
that logging and wood processing
emits far more carbon than a fi re.
For instance, one study estimates
that logging in the United States
releases fi ve times the carbon as
wildfi re, bark beetles, wind thrown,
land use conservations, and drought
combined.
Another Oregon study calculates
that 35% of the carbon emissions
in the state results from the wood
products sector, while wildfi res
average approximately 4%.
Making matters worse is that
logging advocates fail to consider
that in thinning the forest, you are
killing trees. The problem is that
where and when a fi re will occur
is unpredictable. The majority of
all thinned acres never encounter
a fi re. Some estimates suggest less
than 1-2% of all thinned acres expe-
rience a fi re when they might poten-
tially infl uence fi re behavior and
tree mortality.
As one group of researchers con-
cluded: “Thinning forests to reduce
potential carbon losses due to wild-
fi re is in direct confl ict with carbon
sequestration goals.” They go on
to state that “the amount of carbon
removed to change fi re behavior is
often far larger than that saved by
changing fi re behavior, and more
area has to be harvested than will
ultimately burn over the period
of eff ectiveness of the thinning
treatment.”
In fact, one estimate suggests it
may take 100 years to replace the
carbon loss resulting from forest
management.
Thinning larger areas to decrease
the probability of high-severity fi re
ensures decreased carbon stock and
net carbon balance over the treated
area.
Let us say 50% of the trees are
removed in a thinning project, that
is 50% of the stored carbon. So
CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES
REPRESENTATIVES
GOVERNOR
Bobby Levy, District 58
900 Court St. NE, H-376
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1458
Rep.BobbyLevy@state.or.us
Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court St.
Salem, OR 97301-4047
503-378-4582
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even if a thinned stand burns at
lower severity and most trees sur-
vive a fi re, the net result is still a
signifi cant loss of carbon due to the
logging’s tree removal.
Plus, in logging the trees (killing
them), you reduce the future carbon
storage that would have otherwise
occurred had the trees remained in
the forest.
So, we get a guaranteed removal
of carbon and carbon emissions
with logging/thinning that contrib-
utes to climate warming, which is,
in turn, contributing to more fi res.
Even if a forest stand burns
in a high severity fi re where the
majority of trees are killed, most
of the carbon remains on the site as
snags, branches, charcoal and roots
in the soil.
A further problem is an assump-
tion that logging the forest will pre-
clude large high severity blazes
(where most trees are killed). How-
ever, there is abundant scientifi c
and anecdotal evidence that logging
does little to prevent large wildfi res.
The best management for our
forests and climate is to stop log-
ging our public forests.
———
George Wuerthner is an ecologist
who specializes in fi re ecology and
livestock issues.
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