Ellen Engstedt - June 05, 2006
Montana Wood Products Association
Ecoterrorism
There is never a shortage of issues in the arena of forest management and the impacts on the timber community. There is everything from eco terrorism to litigation to what some term urban sprawl that can be considered and discussed.
Montana’s media has not covered the acts of terrorism against development and research to the degree other states have, but it really is a big deal. Over the past few months arrests have been made by federal officials in a number of arson and sabotage cases with charges relating to acts of terror against auto dealerships, research facilities, and logging jobs through tree spiking.
Individuals in the environmental movement have termed the arrests as the “Green Scare” and try to insist that the actions under scrutiny are merely civil disobedience. Millions of dollars worth of damage and the risk to human lives hardly smacks the same as a sit-in with protesters holding posters.
Meanwhile, the road to management on our national forests is still littered in lawsuits even though thousands of homes are being built using value-added timber that could be harvested and milled in Montana. Unfortunately, a couple of minor entities have managed to tie up over 530 million board feet of timber in Montana’s court system, a volume that would keep a small local mill running for years.
On the other hand, more mainstream folks have awakened to the fact that perhaps active timber harvesting is preferable to turning thousands of acres of forestland into concrete and asphalt. A drive around the State continues to be mind-boggling with the amount of house construction going on. The landscape of Montana is beginning to resemble how California looked a number of years ago when the only way you could tell when one town stopped and another started was by the road signs.
During that same drive around the State it is sad but easy to see the toll these lawsuits and inaction is taking on our forests. The Forest Service system contains 67 percent of the forested area of Montana and 90 percent of those lands are identified as serious or high risk for insects, disease or wildfire. The forests are black or red indicating the trees are dead or dying.
When those protesting or litigating claim to be saving the environment, it causes pause to wonder what exactly they are saving and does one save something by forcing it to die. There are 65 time-sensitive national forest management projects either being appealed or litigated and at the mercy of judicial opinion in Montana. No disrespect intended but it is time to take forest management out of the hands of judges and put it where it belongs – with land managers who have the ability to act in the best interest of the resource.
The time has truly come for the majority of Montanans to speak up for their public lands. I have lived in Montana my entire life and have spent many hours hiking and otherwise recreating on Montana soil and water. There are now areas that have become so unsafe and unhealthy it is not wise to travel around in them. These same acres lack wildlife and the other attributes that used to draw me into them. Critters know where the food and protection is and dead and dying forests do not provide for their needs and wellbeing.
The reason many of us continue to live in Montana is because we do love the land. It is the same reason those from other states come here either to vacation or to live. We must make the point that forests are dynamic – constantly changing with each day. Wise land management only enhances the resource by helping to ensure clean air, clean water, and safe habitat for wildlife and humans.
Eco terrorists and litigants need to be put out of business and the voices of common sense and reason must become firm and loud enough to be heard over the shrill of the few.
On behalf of the Montana Wood Products Association based in Helena, I am Ellen Engstedt. Thanks for listening.
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