Debate Over National Forests
Recently I hiked the length of the Pacific Crest Trail--a 2,627-mile wilderness trail stretching from Mexico to Canada through California, Oregon and Washington. In the five months and four days it took me to complete the expedition I witnessed an almost incomprehensible level of deforestation on our public lands.
The harsh reality is that due to many decades of rampant overcutting, approximately 90% of the native forests in the Pacific Northwest have disappeared, and President Bush is leading the charge to clear-cut the 10% that remains for short-term timber industry profits.
Yet in spite of this, President Bush insulted the intelligence of the American people by posing in front of giant sequoias and praising his own environmental record during his recent visit to Sequoia National Forest. This was an empty political exercise loaded with enough hypocrisy and cynicism to flatten a forest.
CHAD T. HANSON
California Ancient Forest Alliance
Los Angeles
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