Oregon: Bailing out a failed timber industry is an age-old routine

Bailout, bailout. It’s in the news, but it’s nothing new here in
Douglas County. We’ve been bailing out the timber industry with cheap
public timber for longer than anyone can remember. It even became a
legal right as the Bush administration failed to fight the industry’s
lawsuit for a bigger bailout when industry leaders were dissatisfied
with what they were already getting. Even GM can’t get away with that
one. Thus was born BLM’s Western Oregon Plan Revision.

Without public
timber, the abundant private timberlands in our county — even the
entire industry — would have to be managed on a biologically
sustainable basis. Imagine that. Now imagine Nebraska lobbying the
people of the U.S. to put our last great public Douglas-fir old growth
forests in their back yard instead of ours. Do you think Nebraskans
would feel thankful, or would they, too, demand timber payments to
compensate for the hardships caused by clean water, beautiful scenery,
and fantastic recreation?

Would they take care of “their” prize legacy
forests, or would they, too, allow a small, powerful group to sue to
convert them into plantations and tree farms? The industry has a sweet
deal going here. To keep it, they’ll use every trick, including
rhetoric such as, “Cut it before it burns,” “Cut it because it
burned,” and flatly denying any responsibility for environmental
damage or loss of endangered species. And, they’ll bully and blackmail
us with the standard, “Help us, or lose jobs. Sound familiar? So, if
you’re appalled at the behind-the-scenes greed and incompetence that
passes for management in Detroit and on Wall Street, remember, some of
that criticism deserves’ to stay right here in Oregon. –Arthur Skach
http://www.nrtoday.com/article/20081230/PUBLICFORUM/812309972/1053&title=Bailout%20efforts%20not%20new%20in%20county

— Posted to http://forestpolicyresearch.com via gmail to posterous and
also to forestpolicyresearch@yahoogroups.com

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