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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 2007)
TO THE EDITOR them at each other for years to come. Can’t wait to see us there. Loren M. Mohler Eugene ARTFUL DODGERS James Johnston’s interesting article (cover story, 8/30) on the plight of the coastal forests and the BLM’s latest logging proposal focuses understandably on damage to envi- ronment and endangered species. Unfortunately, federal forest management agencies have become artful at dodging these crucial issues through pseudo-science, ad- ministrative exclusion and budget train wrecks. The public relations pitch, offered by timber industry and friends for increasing BLM logging, is that the new plan will cut less timber than what is grown. This defini- tion of sustainability, so-called “sustained yield,” where tree growth equals or exceeds timber harvest is, as they know, mandated on federal forestlands. Oregon’s old forests have been methodi- cally liquidated to the twisted tune of this mythical mantra, one that justifies logging slow growing old trees by “balancing” growth against rapidly growing young ones. Any unbiased forester would question how biomass growth in cubic feet fairly compares to mature timber growth in board feet. Will seedlings replace 200-year-old trees in 60 years or even three times as long? In this “sustained yield” ploy, projected growth of “replacement” trees is typically computer modeled rather than measured against actual performance, resulting in huge overestimates. As an example, predicted north coast tree growth failed to materialize due to unforeseen predation by Swiss needle cast, an endemic fungus rampaging through Doug fir monocultures at epidemic levels. Bloated future growth predictions justified logging too much mature timber in the pres- ent, which is how the north coast was shame- lessly overcut. Federal sustained yield models for log- ging old-growth forests are also skewed by overestimating old-growth acres or relaxing definitions to include maturing timber stands of suitable size but lacking classic age, den- sity and structure. By puffing up the total vol- ume, more volume can be “sustainably” ex- tracted. Have BLM’s “old-growth” acres been field checked by unbiased foresters? Do agency yield models consider climate warm- ing, increased fires and pathogens due to drought and slash, or soil productivity losses? Along with bemoaning forest environ- ments and suing over endangered species, groups anxious to discredit the BLM logging plan should attack their sustained yield model on its own lack of merit. Roy Keene Eugene ALL PART OF THE PLAN It is no accident that the war against Iraq has turned into a disaster of biblical propor- tions. That was the plan. It is no accident that Hurricane Katrina was manipulated into a massive ethnic cleansing operation that continues to this day. That was the plan. That’s what FEMA does. It is no accident that an Iraq War contrac- tor has been chosen to lead the development of downtown Eugene. The same grand lar- ceny will be committed here as has been committed in Iraq. The Pentagon has deep pockets. Do we? Do you think the rich will pay the bill? Are you kidding? The Eugene School District failed to meet payroll this month. They are trying to cut benefits for school staff (secretaries, custodi- ans, librarians) while simultaneously increas- ing benefits for administrators (principals, vice principals, superintendent.) Not meeting payroll will be blamed on the greedy custodi- ans and secretaries, but the only pay increase in sight is going to the highest paid employ- ees. This is no accident, either. That was the plan. Stealing from the poor is a crime against nature. Destroying a country in order to gain wealth and power is a crime against nature. It is also a crime for which the penalty in law is life in prison. Ethnic cleansing is a crime against nature and also a crime for which the penalty in law is life in prison. Will the victims of the school district’s power grab stand up for their rights or allow themselves to be robbed and impoverished? Will the citizens of Eugene stand up against the selling of our downtown to a Wall Street war profiteer or allow our city and parks to be destroyed for the profit of a few? Ann Tattersall Eugene More Beads Than You Can Imagine! KAZURI BEAD TRUNK SHOW ONE DAY ONLY! Thursday, Sept. 13th 11am – 5pm (Eugene location Only) www.azillionbeads.net O OW REG PIO A E NED ON NE UG BY ER EN FA E MI LY EUGENE 665 Conger St. Suite J (541) 338-8311 BEND (541) 617-8854 IT’S A MATTER OF CHOICE It took a lot of courage to print Nancy Willard’s Viewpoint (8/30) on school choice. Her dark vision of the world will no doubt draw more responses in defense of Eugene’s remarkable system than you can possibly read, let alone publish. We live in a city in which parents can choose which school to support so long as there’s room and so long as the parents pro- vide transportation. Seventy percent of the parents who opt out of their neighborhood schools do so to use another “regular” school; only 30 percent use alternative schools. Why do any of them do this? Nancy neither knows nor cares. Of the 11 paragraphs in her edito- rial, seven focused entirely on how to allocate real estate, which is hardly the real issue. The real issue, left between Willard’s lines, is that when parents choose an alterna- tive school’s higher scores and/or different philosophy, families with a greater academic SEPTEMBER 13, 2007 5
