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RE: [RC] Wild Horses - heidi

Forest that hasn't been cut in 60-70 years is nice, but just doesn't
really compare.

And it doesn't compare to forest that has been locked up as a wilderness
area allowing ladder fuels to accumulate, so that it burns so hot that it
sterilizes the soil for the next 50+ years, either.  That is what happened
in several areas in the wilderness here in 2000.

I, too, would like to have my cake and eat it too--I sure wish those lands
had been managed in such a way that they might still be enjoyable for my
nieces and nephews and their children.  Instead, they were locked up, and
they all went up in smoke.

There are areas in north Idaho where things are just beginning to grow
following the fires up there in 1910.  You'd think we might have learned
something from that, instead of locking the land up so that the same thing
would repeat.

"The Great Scheme of Things" really doesn't care if the ladder fuels
accumulate and the whole thing burns.  Some of the rest of us do.

No, the choices are NOT between the extreme of completely-locked-up
wilderness on one hand and clear-cut on the other.  Good logging practices
can keep a forest healthy and viable so that it CAN also be enjoyed.  I'll
use Newberry Crater as an example again.  No logging was allowed inside
the Monument, and the dead timber (particularly on the north rim) is
appalling.  One lightning strike in there and the whole thing will be
history for several years.  But just off of the south rim, as you get back
into "regular" management, there has been selective logging.  The area
teems with elk, deer, game birds, and little critters.  There is green
grass in areas among the timber, and you can see the view once in awhile. 
And if it burns, it will go quick through the underbrush, and the big
trees will survive, so that in a few years, it will be nice and healthy
again.  One guess where I'D rather ride...

Heidi


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We are talking about all the tools we can use to keep our horses safe and
alive at the rides. Training/conditioning is one of the best tools
available. It makes us better horseman and women, it benefits our horses
and could quite possibly be the key to preventing most crashes.
~ Lisa Salas - The Odd Farm

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Replies
RE: [RC] Wild Horses, David LeBlanc