Red ink is red ink, but the U.S.
Forest Service and The Wilderness Society color their images of
commercial logging on our national forests in grossly different
shades. The Forest Service says it made $16 million from commercial
timber sales in Oregon and Washington in fiscal year 1996. The
Wilderness Society estimates the agency lost $115.9 million on
those sales. Looking at the nation as a whole, the Forest Service’s
Forest Management Program Report announced that its commercial
timber program lost $14.7 million. Agency spokesman Alan Polk
blames the loss on less timber available for sale, an emphasis on
salvage logging, stringent environmental standards and a shift from
commercial timber sales toward achieving long-term forest health
and water quality. The Wilderness Society says the losses are much
greater. In its January report, Double Trouble: The Loss of Money
in Our National Forests, the group estimates the agency lost $204
million. The 15-page report says that the Forest Service ignores 70
percent of the costs for building and maintaining logging roads,
office overhead and the 25 percent of all commercial revenues that
must be paid to counties where timber is harvested. “In any given
year in the last 10 years, roughly 50 to 60 percent (of Forest
Service timber) was sold below-cost,” says Wilderness Society
spokesman Michael Francis.
The society’s report
is available for $2 from the Publications Department, The
Wilderness Society, 900 17th St. NW, Washington, DC 20006-2596, or
for free on the Web at www.wilderness.org. The Forest Service’s
report can be obtained by calling 202/205-1162, or on the Web at
www.fs.fed.us.
*J.T.
Thomas
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline When green becomes red.
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