I have written many posts about hiking in the Applegate, for instance, or swimming in lakes or otherwise being outdoors in the Pacific Northwest, which means, of course, in our forests. The caretakers of many of the forests, not only in Southern Oregon but all over the country, is the National Forest Service. They are caretakers. We, the public, are owners.
It has been a privilege not taken for granted that the public can comment on actions the Forest Service would like to take in "managing" those forests. I and many citizens in the Applegate comment frequently on actions, such as proposed timber sales, that would greatly affect our way of living, our economy, our recreation, our inspiration, and our enjoyment of life. That right of the public to provide their points of view about Forest Service actions has been invaluable to us.
Now that right is threatened. A new set of guidelines the Forest Service is proposing would eliminate public comment on many proposed actions, including timber sales. I am so enraged by this proposal I am asking you if you would join thousands of other people nationwide who are protesting these new rules. Here is the website: http://regulationsgov/docket?D=FS-2019-0010. Click on "comment here" to add your voice.
Below is a poem I wrote last summer that expresses some of what happens when our forests are cut.
Walking My Usual Trail Three Years Later
When I voiced my rage
At your logging operation,
You shrugged and said,
“In another year
You’ll never notice.”
Not notice
How hot the sun that once tall trees held back?
How scrubby the brush that once those trees kept down?
How clunky the rhythm of the plucked-out forest?
Not notice
Bullying thistles seizing bulldozed ground?
Rain-sliced mud gutters on the uphill curve of the road?
Not notice
The moaning stumps
Of lost tree souls?
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