Well said, Barbara. The problem in much of California’s
forest isn’t that there are too few trees, but way too many. Most
of our forests are overcrowded with thick, often impenetrable, under story.
When John Muir and other early pioneers first entered out forests, they wrote
about the “cathedral-like” nature of the wild lands where for many
centuries the native tribes routinely used fire to thin the forests. Now,
after nearly a century of “protecting” the woods from fire, we have
very sick forests, usually infested with bark beetles and other boring insects,
subject to massive forest fires that each year grows worse and worse. Yet,
those who claim they care about our wild lands can’t see the harm that is
right in front of their eyes. We need to engender sane forest management
that includes commercial logging as well as controlled burns and mechanical
thinning. Unfortunately, our legislature only has ears for the so-called
environmentalists, and they and the federal government have slowly but surely
closed down our forests from logging, throwing thousands of loggers, mill
workers and their families out of work, while creating sick and dying forests.
