The Journal places blame for the bug devastation squarely on the shoulders of the U.S. Forest Service.
"Take this article that appeared in the Rapid City Journal on October 21, 1963: "We were warned on Beetles."The opinion article criticizes the Forest Service for its failure to do more to head off the beetle infestation then ravaging the Hills, despite earlier predictions of the problem from within its own ranks."
The beetle infestation that occurred in the time prior to the 1963 Journal editorial, may well have been to the Forest Service's inaction.
However, the responsibility for the infestation currently on the Black Hills National Forest rests with The Sierra Club, Bryan Brademeyer and other "environmentalists" who challenged in court every single timber sale proposed by the USFS in the late 1970s, '80s and '90s.
Every attempt to manage the forest to avoid the infestation with which we're now faced was tied up in court until a thriving timber industry in the Black Hills was as devastated at the forest itself. Millions of dollars and thousands of jobs are gone and the forest is in the worst shape it's ever been in. And, nobody could be happier about it than Brian and his group of environmental terrorists.
Brademeyer continues his destructive activities, convinced that the only good tree is a burning one.
It should come as no surprise to anyone who has been around awhile that multiple use proponents fear the wilderness designation for the grasslands proposed by Sen. Tim Johnson. All you need to do is take a trip through the Black Elk Wilderness to see the devastation that can happen when "environmentalists" get their way.
The Forest Service has not been sitting on their hands when it comes to protecting our natural resources. Their hands have been tied by the court system, Brademeyer and the Sierra Club.
8 comments:
With whom are you trying to pick a fight, Mike?
ip does not link to the Sierra Club for some of the reasons you state mostly because they are too often wrong; but, lumping all environmentalists into one pile pisses me off.
The blame for the way the Hills look falls squarely on Homestake, the fucking State of South Dakota, the Neimans, and people just like you.
No intention of pissing you off. Please note "environmentalists" were inside quotes, because I don't consider them real environmentalists.
No argument that Homestake certainly knew how to dig a big f*ckin' hole and didn't understand the concept of reclamation by anyone's reasonable imagination.
Most of the Neimans' timber comes from privately held land. They've been harvesting those trees for several generations and remain the only viable timber operation in the Black Hills.
And people just like me? You don't know me, or my background in conservation and habitat restoration.
Blame Larry Mann, the lead land-rape lobbyist if you want to blame someone. Rich Harr, Denny McKay and on and on. Brademeyer is the Bob Ellis of the environmental movement.
Brademeyer may be the Bob Ellis of the environmental movement, but he has been successful in stalling or preventing any management of the forest.
Taking old growth is NOT the answer and stopping it is critical to restoration.
The high-grading that wreaked the greatest havoc in the wake of the massive clear-cuts of pine and aspen as timbers in Homestake's shaft drilling heyday left Old Jim Neiman to hire the likes of Mann to ensure the Forest Service was bent over.
The FS is so bound up in so much obstructionist policy intended to placate the entrenched Republicans that the Hills are left to suffer.
Thanks for putting ip into your blogroll.
Putting IP on the blogroll: I went there, liked what I saw and added. I don't have to agree with you to enjoy the debate.
The lawsuits aren't about stopping the harvesting of old growth. They're about stopping all logging.
I don't necessarily disagree with you on the Neimans, Mann, Homestake, etc. But, they are only PART of the problem.
The reason FS can't manage the forest, isn't because they're tied up with Republican obstructionist policy. They're tied up by EVERYBODY'S obstructionist policy. And, yes. The forest suffers.
So, here is a little good news.
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