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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (March 3, 2011)
letters TO THE EDITOR we stop blowing up peoples’ homes with fl ying robots. We could even launch a new WPA, provide jobs, build green energy infrastructure, truly reduce CO2 emissions, and stimulate the entire economy. Are these ideas too utopian, too impractical, or too much to expect right now? Then it’s time for something bigger. It’s likely already begun in Wisconsin. Todd D. Johnson Eugene GROW UP I found Kathryn Mason’s opinions as stated in her letter Feb. 17 to be offensive. I take issue with her statement that declared the cover Feb. 10 to be “obscene by any standards” — not by my standards, nor by the dozen or so individuals unfamiliar to me whom I quizzed about the cover. I found no one who objected. I also found her thinly veiled threats of loss of advertisers and the folding of the publications to be unacceptable. The whole letter read like a childish temper tantrum. I say kudos to EW for a tasteful representation of the human form and an interesting article. I view EW’s advertisers as open and supportive of diverse opinions, and I will continue to support them with my business. I would say to Ms. Mason, “Grow up!” Sandra Legaard Springfi eld JOBS TO CHINA At a time when the main political focus is on jobs, jobs, jobs, I would like to talk about where all the jobs went, and why. Why is everything we use made in China, when millions of Americans are out of work? Because all the famous “American” corporations, the backbone of the American economy (i.e. stock market) have made an end run around all the human rights laws, labor standards, and environmental protections that democracy has made possible here, by moving millions of once-American jobs to (often unrepentantly) undemocratic countries like China. In the process, they have increased their personal profi ts tenfold, while fl ooding the country (and its landfi lls) with cheap, low quality junk, designed to break and be thrown away. What is very good for China and huge corporations is very bad for American workers, democracy, and the planet. And thanks to the Supreme Court, the same corporations who have bypassed all that democracy has accomplished for We the People, have now gained virtually unlimited, anonymous power to infl uence our “democratic” elections, fl ooding the airwaves with carefully devious misinformation. Multinational corporations are the enemy of real democracy; global capitalism is the engine of disaster! P.S. Can anyone tell me why there aren’t hundreds of banking executives in jail right now? Instead they’re back to record bonuses and fraudulent behavior. And We the People, in our tens of millions, continue to do ... nothing? Rick Moser Eugene HARMFUL ALTERNATIVE Tar sands oil contains more harmful chemicals than conventional crude, including fi ve to 10 times as much sulfur, and more chloride salts. Both substances can weaken viewpoint pipelines and make them more likely to break during a pressure spike. Kelly Rasmussen Junction City WTF? The Weekly began to cover a story that sounds like high profi le money laundering (“Pat Kilkenny Invested in Courtside?”1/6 ) in the controversial Walnut Station mixed- use development area. Why is the Weekly failing to follow up on that important story? The Weekly is now promoting instead of reporting on proposed EmX expansions. Why the change? The Emerald now reports UO is selling legacy arena parking garage spots for one million dollars each. In other news: UO is buying land in Glenwood and faces two hearings next month (5 pm March 16 in the Sloat Room of the Atrium Building) related to a proposed sprawling riverfront Nike complex and museum. The outcomes of the two hearings are subject to appeal. In other words: What the F is going on over there at the Weekly? Zachary Vishanoff Eugene IMPACT ON FAMILIES Violence, drug use, homelessness, and an increase of adolescents within Lane County’s juvenile system is what closing our communities’ schools can lead to. The young need organizations and institutions that provide positive, supportive environments. For most of our adolescents, this comes from local schools they have attended throughout their early education years. Taking this away can certainly be a crisis for most young children and adolescents within our community. Eugene 4J School Board and local public and city offi cials held a meeting on Feb. 2. A decision was made to close four of our local elementary schools, Crest Drive, Parker, Meadowlark and Coburg Elementary; students, families, and teachers are all now being critically impacted throughout their communities. Parents and children have to adjust to new schools or even new districts, which can cause a huge damper economically for each family. Teachers are facing layoffs with no guarantee to have any work in their fi eld of expertise; in return, Oregon’s unemployment rates will dramatically increase. Giving children what they need to succeed is not removing the place of education where they have already adapted a strong routine. Young people need constructive, enriching opportunities for growth through creative activities, youth programs and congregational involvement, all which are best provided at our local schools. Our youth also need a strong sense of their own power, purpose, worth, and promise which is removed when they are forced to start over and pushed into a different community. Tiffany Cloud Springfi eld LETTERS POLICY: We welcome letters on all topics and will print as many as space allows, with priority given to timely local issues. Please limit length to 200 words, keep submissions to once a month, and include your address and phone number for our files. E-mail to letters@eugeneweekly. com fax to 484-4044, or mail to 1251 Lincoln, Eugene 97401. WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM BY ROY KEENE Restorative Logging? More rarity than reality B eginning with Bush’s 2003 Healthy Forests Restoration Act, there have been a number of politically powered, scientifi cally justifi ed proposals to log more federal forests. These efforts to increase logging assert that our forests are unhealthy and, therefore, in need of “restoration.“ Sen. Wyden’s Eastside Forest Restoration and Jobs Act, proposing to triple logging in three million acres of already over-logged forests, brought in a new twist: Environmental organizations are working with the timber industry to promote this latest round of logging. Jack Ward Thomas, ex-chief the Forest Service and a forger of the Northwest Forest Plan, publicly challenged this collaborative logging proposal. In an Oregonian op-ed, he questioned special interest groups dictating national forest policy, undercutting existing forest management laws, and expediting logging by reducing appeals and public participation. Politically and scientifi cally driven logging to “restore“ our forests precedes the Bush and Wyden efforts by 40 years. In the early 1970s, massive clear-cut logging, called “regeneration harvesting,“ was sold as a way to bring decadent ancient forests back to health. Liquidating these “overly mature” forests was supposed to create more wildlife habitat, increase water fl ows and salmon runs, foster more diversity, and help prevent fi re. It’s done just the opposite. A Forest Service silviculturalist I worked with during that period jeopardized his career by calling “regeneration harvesting“ what it really was ... deforestry. Wikipedia says using buzzwords is “stating goals with opaque words of unclear meaning; their positive connotations prevent questioning of intent.” In a Register-Guard opinion, Tom Partin of the American Forest Resource Council cloaked this latest logging scam in buzzwords without ever saying the “L“ word. Fear of wildfi re is heavily used to sell these forest “restoration” schemes. Logging has not been proven, in practice, to reduce fi re frequency or intensity. Historically, the largest, most destructive blazes, like the Tillamook confl agration, were caused from logging or fueled by slash. Unlogged forests, cool and shaded, are typically more fi re resistant than cut over, dried-up stands choked with slash and weeds. Large-scale logging (by any name) has devalued our forests, degraded our waters, damaged soils, and endangered a wide variety of plants and animals. How will the current round of politically and environmentally propelled “restorative” logging proposals differ, in practice, from past logging regimes? It’s a bad time for environmentalists to promote more logging even if it were truly “restorative.” In this historically low market, federal timber is sold very cheaply. Timber purchasers already sit on huge logging contracts in order to make windfall profi ts when markets rise. Selling more timber in a low market further devalues our forest and encourages industry to clamor for more. Practicing forestry for 35 years, I’ve worked with federal and private foresters, tribal elders, citizen groups, and even industry to design many successful forest restoration projects that don’t involve logging. Fact is, when site and soil impacts are considered, “restorative logging” in federal forests is a rarity ... more of an oxymoron than a reality. Roy Keene is a local real estate broker and private timberland restoration specialist. Cutting and burning a crowded understory releases a larch stand without logging EUGENE WEEKLY MARCH 3, 2011 7
