Dear HCN,
Your article on massive
tree thinning to make room for the return of ponderosa pine forests
(Northern Arizona U. looks back, moves forward, 11/13/95) offers
valuable insights to conservationists. The article’s claim that
thinning is economically viable raises an interesting question,
namely, viable for whom?
Big mills have retooled
to process the smaller logs, automating operations and reducing the
number of employees. The smaller and often family-owned milled are
generally equipped to process large logs only. Confronted by
competitors with deep pockets who can afford to retool, the small
mills often go out of business.
Big mills also
create mill-dependent communities and require logging projects
dependent on below-cost timber sales doled out by the Forest
Service. Small mills, with capacities of 10 million board-feet per
year or less, tend to be part of a more diversified local economy
and can also be more environmentally and economically
friendly.
A move away from corporate welfare and
a return to small mills, retooled to handle the small logs through
low-interest and publicly financed loans, may be one
answer.
Don Smith
Boise,
Idaho
Don Smith is an Idaho
field representative with Alliance for the Wild
Rockies.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Count in the little logger.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
