Pacific Northwest: Radical activists who went less radical talk about Obama forests
Friedman and Kerr have been in the environmental field for a
quarter-century or more, and were once considered wild men,
aggressively challenging federal agencies and corporate land managers.
Friedman began his career sitting in old-growth trees, and Kerr was
described by Time magazine as “a terrorist in a white collar.” Now
elder statesmen in the region’s environmental leaders, their tactics
may have mellowed but their goals for a new administration are
aggressive.
In separate interviews, both stressed the linkage between
global warming and the region’s forests and streams. They also
underscored the need to move “beyond the rollback of the rollbacks” as
the Obama team tries to reverse last-minute actions of the Bush team.
Kerr sees the region’s forests increasingly valued for their ability
to sequester carbon. If the nation and world move aggressively to a
cap-and-trade system, the value of a mature forest may be greater to
sequester carbon than to harvest. Already, Friedman notes, the value
of forest real estate is up while commodity prices are low. That means
the idea of forests to sequester carbon will compete not with
harvesting timber but with housing developments. If large forest
tracts are preserved, benefits to wildlife and fish will accrue, but
salmon preservation will require more attention, Kerr states.
Reducing
cattle production on public lands and increasing streamside vegetation
will be needed, as will cutbacks in motorized recreation. Friedman
also believes reductions in RV use are needed, but notes that the
heavy inroads of motorized recreation during the Bush Administration
have built an industry and a lobby with considerable clout with
Congress. Environmental lobbyists expect changes in Washington
attitude as well as laws with the new administration. The Sierra Club,
long a major force in the capital, places emphasis on the role of
science, which has been under siege in the Bush years. “Policy based
on scientific evidence that is realistic and achievable,” is how the
Sierra Club puts it.
http://crosscut.com/2008/12/15/science-environment/18702/
See and download the full gallery on posterous
Posted via email from Deane’s posterous