Dear HCN,
I am one of the letter
writers being accused by Mike Yost in his letter of being a
“California activist … spreading misinformation about the Quincy
Library Group.” (HCN, 12/22/97) But I’m not a California activist –
I’m a local Plumas County activist and have been for the past 15
years.
My opposition to the current QLG bill has
nothing to do with the alleged local vs. ational environmental
group or local vs. state environmental group “turf battle.” It has
to do with the sheer volume and intensity of the logging that has
to be allowed under the QLG agreement in order to secure the
protection of only some of the environmentally sensitive lands in
the project area. And that protection is only for the five-year
duration of the bill. After that, the logged trees will be gone
forever but the protected lands could be back on the chopping
block.
The logging includes more than 45,000
acres of group selection (miniature clearcuts) and 300,000 acres of
shaded fuel breaks (a better term would be barely shaded fuel
breaks) where from 60 percent to 70 percent of the forest will be
removed. In his letter, Mr. Yost makes all this sound like a trip
to Disneyland.
I feel sorry for the public trying
to decide what to believe. Maybe my paraphrased recollection of a
scene from a recent James Bond movie will help: Mr. Gupta is
confronted with 007’s impeccable (but phony) credentials as an
international banker. He grunts, “No good.” Gupta’s partner asks
why that is, and Gupta replies, “It’s Gupta’s Law of Creative
Anomalies: When something seems too good to be true, it always is.”
John
Preschutti
Blairsden,
California
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Quincy bill is big and bad.
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