President Bush’s Decision to Allow Logging in Owl Country

The Bush Administration’s decision to delay a ban on logging in the Northwest is incredibly shortsighted. Those who, unlike President Bush, really know the environmental score are painfully aware that the issue is not just an owl vs. some logging jobs. The issue is 10% of remaining old-growth forests vs. human overpopulation and overuse of natural resources.

My family drove and camped through Oregon and Washington in the 1960s. Some clear-cutting was visible. The “campground” had been turned into a mesa of huge stumps. But many mountain ranges were still forested.

Twenty-five years later, in 1988, we drove through many of the same places. We were appalled. Logging trucks roared past continually, each carrying 3-4 giant logs obviously 100 years or more old. Most of the slopes had been clear-cut, even on the famous Olympic Peninsula. Mile upon mile seemed to have been hit with a nuclear bomb: heaps of huge tree roots, broken soil, brush piles. No living thing. I don’t want to think what happened to the streams and wildlife.

Of course, the timber workers must live too. But why can’t they be hired to restore the land, to improve recreation facilities, to entice visitors and their dollars back again?

The spotted owl controversy is telling us time is short--the future is upon us--we must choose--and we must support politicians who will make the right choices.

ANNE G. PHILLIPS

San Luis Obispo