Dear HCN,
In Ted Williams’ original
commentary on Nevada land exchanges, as it appeared in Fly Rod and
Reel magazine, Williams wrote that the Forest Service Employees for
Environmental Ethics had an “obligation” to report on the Office of
Inspector General investigation (HCN, 12/21/98). We agree. That’s
why we did.
It may also interest your readers to
know that the Seattle Times ran a week-long special on land
exchanges, including a major story on the Nevada exchanges reported
previously in FSEEE’s Inner Voice magazine. For its reporting,
which matches in substance our story, the Seattle Times received
the Natural Resources Defense Council’s prestigious John B. Oakes
Award for Distinguished Environmental
Journalism.
Finally, many land exchanges in the
Intermountain Southwest fuel suburban sprawl in Reno, Las Vegas,
Tucson (HCN, 1/18/99), Phoenix, and other rapidly growing cities.
But for these land exchanges, developers would be hemmed in by
federally owned open space. Those who promote land exchanges to
protect wild lands need to consider the environmental consequences
on this other side of the equation,
too.
Andy
Stahl
Eugene,
Oregon
The writer is FSEEE’s
executive
director.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline We did our job.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
