Controversy Over Forest Land Use

Regarding “Forest Service, Cabin Owners at Loggerheads Over Land Use” (by Ann Japenga, Oct. 20): The U.S. Forest Service is continually befuddled about how it has lost its mandate to administer the public’s forests. It has yet to discover the lessons of any capricious government agency.

So there is a move to eliminate private cabins in the Angeles National Forest. After a “study,” the decision to remove the cabins at the owners’ expense will be made. Sounds to me as if the Forest Service has already made up its mind and, like all agencies of the government, will produce a self-aggrandizing “plan” to justify its decision.

Its reasoning to remove the cabins (basically, the cabins don’t belong there) is consistent with the illogical, nonsensical and bureaucratic manner in which the agency is operated. While ski resorts and four-wheel-drive roads get the go-ahead to destroy more forest land, people who contribute to the forest face future eviction. This insensitivity of the Forest Service really galls me.

Why don’t they just hurry up and implement the plan they desire most: Cut all the trees down, crisscross the mountains with roads, construct ski resorts on every hill and kick out all the people who don’t drive, ski or throw beer bottles on the ground. Then we would truly have a national forest that they would be proud of.

PETER STEKEL

Wrightwood