We were very disturbed by Peter Friederici’s
article “Peace Breaks Out in New Mexico’s Forests.” Its
misrepresentations and outright lies are a slap in the face to all
of us who were involved in trying to revitalize community forestry
during the 1990s. Friederici fails to provide any of the historical
and cultural context necessary to understand a very complex and
important period that not only affected northern New Mexico
forestry but also raised questions all over the country about the
relationships between environmentalists, the Forest Service, and
indigenous communities.
When we drafted a 560-word letter
responding to the article, HCN told us that due
to “limited space for letters” the editors could not print the
letter as written. It would take a letter at least as long as
Friederici’s article to fully respond to all of his
misconceptions. We therefore suggest that readers who are
interested in a more informed perspective take a look at the
November 2006 issue of La Jicarita News
(www.lajicarita.org).
For the record, however, we
can’t let several of Bryan Bird’s comments go
unchallenged. Environmentalists Sam Hitt and John Talberth’s
wives were never hung in effigy, even though Charlotte Talberth was
also a Forest Guardian activist involved in the timber sale appeals
and lawsuits. Furthermore, his comments that loggers cut down
several big pines “just to spite us” and that “everybody has taken
a deep breath and stood down” are self-serving and unsubstantiated.
Mark Schiller and Kay
Matthews
Co-editors, La Jicarita
News
Chamisal, New Mexico
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Forestry story lacked context.
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