Does it ever end?
Or, Objectivity in a Pigs Eye!
BY GEOFFREY THOMAS BECK
Before I write another word, I am not a
tree hugger. I am not anti-timber. I believe in the harvesting of the timber in the
Allegheny National Forest using the select cut method. I do not want to see the timber
industry devastated. There, just so the tags cannot be put on me, I have clarified my
position.
The Mountain Laurel Review is one of the most misquoted publications that has
ever been in print. Someone, probably a political enemy of my father's, say like Bill
Kilmer, will claim that we are against the timber industry just because of this article.
We are not against anything that is done in the right way. Actually, anyone with half a
brain will understand what I am saying even if they don't like the magazine, my father,
John Gates or myself.
Congressman John Peterson announced a study of the use of the Allegheny National
Forest. He announced that Congress was allocating $1.8 million dollars for that study. He
also announced that the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford would be one of two
Universities doing the study. I guess that means $900,000 will come to UPB. Wonderful!
Every cent helps and goes a long, long way to helping the overall economy of the area.
What bothered me was the Congressman's use of the word "objective" when he
announced the study.
The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford can be objective when it comes to the usage of
the Allegheny National Forest in a pig's eye and when hell freezes over! Richard McDowell,
President of UPB, has vast timber holdings that include the cutting and the sale of timber
in this area. He is also President of Northwest Savings. He is also a frequent visitor and
person giving testimony on behalf of the timber industry to Congress in Washington, D.C.
Where do you think his sentiments lie? Where do you think the sentiments of the University
will land? Do you think that they may closely mirror his?
I am not against the timber industry. I agree with a multi-use plan for the Allegheny
National Forest. I do want to point out that the problems that the pine cone counters in
the green trucks are having are the direct result of their actions and no one else's. They
caused the situation that currently exists. They made this mess. They did it with their
arrogance and their insensitivity to the needs of the people who use the National Forest
for recreational purposes.
They have lied to the people on a consistent basis since the Allegheny Reservoir was
first planned back in the mid 1930s. In 1959 when it became a fact that the dam was going
to be built once we could legally steal the land from the Cornplanter Indians and
countless other property owners, the lies really began. They promised 10,000 camp sites.
They promised 250 miles of horse riding trails. They promise 200 miles of ATV trails. They
also promised to make this the snowmobile capital of the east.
There were supposed to be cabins that would be for rent. We were supposed to have
facilities for showering that far exceed the paltry number of units currently provided.
The forest was supposed to be a Mecca for a population in a 500-mile radius. There was
supposed to be a 50-trail ski resort, complete with a hotel. What happened to the ski
resort? Where is the hotel?
Instead of developing the forest after the reservoir was built, they neglected it. Camp
Cornplanter, once a fine facility with a lovely swimming pool, has been allowed to fall
into disrepair and ruin. Winter logging took precedent over snow mobiling. Trails were
closed and not relocated when a section of the forest was being cut. The snowmobilers lost
to the interest of the logging.
No one looked for a compromise. No one thought or cared about the needs of the people
who came from Cleveland, Buffalo, Pittsburgh and other cities, only to be disappointed. No
one thought or cared about the needs of the businesses that catered to the snowmobilers.
No. The logging came first. It was too much of an effort to make a simple concession.
Roads were closed and entire parts of the National Forest that allegedly belongs to the
people were cut off. Is it any surprise that certain people want to close the forest to
all logging? Were these the same people who have been gated out and denied access to the
National Forest?
Why do they act so shocked? My father tried telling them this would happen in 1993,
1994, 1995 and 1996. Then it happened. What a surprise! They built roads where they needed
no roads. They spend several million dollars annually building roads and then gating them
and keeping the taxpayers who are supposed to own the forest from using them. My father
wanted and still wants the gates torn down and snowmobilers allowed to have free and
unlimited access to all of those roads. I agree with him.
Why do we need all of these roads if they are not for recreation? My father calls the
Allegheny National Forest "a tree farm." The roads are for easy access to the
valuable Black Cherry. You know what? I can live with that. I can live with the fact that
there probably is no place in the 500,000-plus acres that is not more than one mile from a
road. I don't like it; but I can live with it. Let the people use them for recreation.
What can an ATV or a snowmobile do that a log truck doesn't? What makes loggers more
environmentally conscious than people who ride ATV's and snowmobiles?
Reg Darling of Warren wrote to us and said: "A study with a predetermined
conclusion is hardly a study—it's propaganda. It seems outrageous that taxpayers have
been building roads for international timber companies, but now we're being asked to fund
campaign literature! Mr. Peterson would have us believe that ‘zero cut’ is the
only alternative to a wholesale endorsement of current Forest Service practices. But you
don't have to advocate zero-cut to look at a clear cut and see a brutal violation of the
land. You don't have to be an advocate of zero-cut to be concerned about spraying
herbicides on thousands of acres of forest or believe that a forest can heal and sustain
itself."
I agree with Mr. Darling. There is a center point to all of this but the zero-cut
people and Congressman Peterson can't seem to see it. If that is the case, then we do need
a study done by UPB that will tell us what we already know will say. The $900,000 is a
gift from the taxpayers to UPB because Richard McDowell is a good guy and testifies
whenever they need him and he does come with impressive credentials and that impresses the
Congressmen and the Senators.
It's time to cut the crap. It is time to put a fence around the acres in timber and
call it the tree farm my father says it is. Tell the damn truth for once! Quit lying to
the people. They have gotten a whole lot smarter since 1959 and know a skunk when they
smell one. None of us believe for one minute that the UPB study will be objective. I hope
Congressman Peterson, a genuinely good man, doesn't hang his hat on that whopper.
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