"Only you can prevent forest fires" - Smokey The B

[GalvestonDuck]

Okay, most of the obvious ways to prevent forest fires are common sense. I don't think I need to go into that.

But could someone please explain the whole loggers v. environmentalists arguments? I tend to side with the loggers -- thinning the forest leaves less to burn. Clean out the dead and dry stuff and harvest the usable stuff. If I understand correctly, the environmentalist [u]extremists[/u] (hey, even I like clean air and water, so I suppose I'm an environmentalist to a moderate degree) want nature to clean out the fallen trees and they want the fires to do a "natural" job of thinning the forests. I don't get the rationale. So if someone on the environmental side could explain how it's better, I'd like to at least hear that side...clearly.

And I've always wondered, do people who are opposed to logging have metal doors and furniture? What do they write on, since papers is made from wood pulp?

[azsnowman]

"WEEEELLLL DOOGIES!" I can't WAIT to hear the other side either, you KNOW my stand on this issue........"Save a logger, eat more owl!"

Dennis

[opera ghost]

"WEEEELLLL DOOGIES!" I can't WAIT to hear the other side either, you KNOW my stand on this issue........"Save a logger, eat more owl!"

Dennis

*Laughs* I don't know why but that just struck me as hilarious. I love the owls and want to see them saved- but it made me laugh.

Anyhow. I've always understood it to be a back to nature sort of thing. Those same extreme enviromentalists don't want people building in the forests either- so as far as they're concerned anything that gets burned down is one step closer to returning it to nature.

As a very moderate enviromentalist (I recycle and do what I can to support clean air and water) I'm in favor of more recent plans of burning out under brush in controlled fires- this doesn't "hurt" the trees in ~some~ plans at all- just removes the dangerous tinder and cleans out some of the dead things. Unfortunetly it's dangerous and requires a lot of manpower and very very careful planning. I think that controlled underbrush burning combined with moderate logging is a healthy choice for the forests. It's not that I want "natural" fire to thin out the trees- just to thin out the tinder!

Makes it safer for everyone- including the loggers.