Again, Admin Opening Tongass National Forest...

Tom/Barb wrote:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/trump-pushes-to-allow-new-logging-in-alaskas-tongass-national-forest/2019/08/27/b4ca78d6-c832-11e9-be05-f76ac4ec618c_story.html

Oh yeah, that's an even handed, non-political, truth seeking publication that has no political axes to grind and ALWAYS publishes stories with both points of view of the subject by well known learn-ed individuals. Yep, always.

Tom/Barb wrote:

beemerphile1 wrote:
National Forests are not National Parks. National Forests have always been mined, timber cut, drilled, you name it. The directive of National Forests is asset management, NOT preservation.

Like it or not, that is the way it has always been.

Most here don't realize the size of the Tongass national forest. It really is the majority of Southeast Alaska, and contains several national parks like Misty Fjord, Glacier Bay and other not so well known. It is in fact the coastal mountain range and is very steep slopes.
What logging has been done has been with heavy lift helos, not trucks. most logging camps are barges, not a clearing some place.
They remove trees in pieces, not whole logs.
I worked several years maintaining the aircraft, and living in the camps.

You have listed some National Monuments, not Parks. I have never seen loggers "remove trees in pieces, not logs." Please explain.

Fire is almost unknown on the Tongass in SE Alaska. The low elevation areas get 100 inches of rain and the upper parts 150-200 inches of rain.

It is not like the Intermountain West at all with the fire adapted species.

Who has been in the bush on the Tongass? Raise your hand.

Tom/Barb wrote:
Tongass national forest is plagued each year by numerous wild fires, Better forest management will prevent this.
The president's actions are a good for the forest.

A Big X 2.....

:B

beemerphile1 wrote:
National Forests are not National Parks. National Forests have always been mined, timber cut, drilled, you name it. The directive of National Forests is asset management, NOT preservation.

Like it or not, that is the way it has always been.

Most here don't realize the size of the Tongass national forest. It really is the majority of Southeast Alaska, and contains several national parks like Misty Fjord, Glacier Bay and other not so well known. It is in fact the coastal mountain range and is very steep slopes.
What logging has been done has been with heavy lift helos, not trucks. most logging camps are barges, not a clearing some place.
They remove trees in pieces, not whole logs.
I worked several years maintaining the aircraft, and living in the camps.

National Forests are not National Parks. National Forests have always been mined, timber cut, drilled, you name it. The directive of National Forests is asset management, NOT preservation.

Like it or not, that is the way it has always been.

NRALIFR wrote:
While the Japanese pine beetle is a non-native destructive pest, it’s the mountain pine beetle that’s killing all the pine trees, and it’s native to the US.

The damage caused by these two beetles is distinctly different.

:):)

That I didn't know.
Ya live, ya learn. Hopefully :)

While the Japanese pine beetle is a non-native destructive pest, it’s the mountain pine beetle that’s killing all the pine trees, and it’s native to the US.

The damage caused by these two beetles is distinctly different.

:):)

NRALIFR wrote:
The very last sentence of the very last paragraph was something to the effect of “This has happened dozens of times over the last XX-thousand years”. So, pine beetles aren’t new, or even a crisis. It happens, the forest recovers, it will happen again.

I agree that the dead trees could and should be harvested. There are things that could still be made from the lumber. Ever hear of “Beetle-Kill Pine” flooring? Look it up, it’s beautiful, and expensive.

The Japanese pine beetle was brought here in the 1920s in the pallet and packing wood from Japan.

They have no natural enemies, nothing eats them.

The interesting part of this is that the total area being considered is about 498,000 acres. Which sounds like and is a large area. Until you consider that the Tongass National Forest is over 17,000,000 acres in size.
The alarmist are having conniption fits over tiny portions of the area. (3%)
It should also be noted that much of Tongass is islands and in some cases adjacent to National park lands that will likely never be developed in any way.
The biggest problem is that folks in the areas deciding many of these issues have no concept of what they are doing. Tongass is halfway between the size of West Virginia and South Carolina. It alone, is larger than 10 of our states.
We are talking about huge areas, and in many cases the folks sitting in as experts have never travelled sufficiently to have any comprehension of the scale of things they are dealing with. And with the media, you usually have someone who's only desire is to sensationalize the issue as much as they can, which then stirs up the unknowing masses to scream that the sky is falling.