Ruidoso News - Time for Responsible Forest Management

Op-Ed

Recently I had the opportunity to visit Ruidoso-one of my favorite regular stops as I travel through New Mexico and listen to constituents. I have been informed that the drought conditions this spring have prompted Forest Service officials to close access to the forest in the name of safety for all residents. Even the exercise trail located immediately outside the forest service office is off limits to locals and tourists.

I am told that the decision to close the forest means fire danger is extreme.

This impacts the community tremendously by stifling tourism and recreation-primary sources of income for the area.

With the Wallow Fire still burning in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico, with lives and property at risk, it is obvious that our forests throughout the region are currently in peril.

Tourism is likely to drop significantly in Lincoln County this summer if the forest remains closed, dramatically affecting local jobs and paychecks.

Last weekend, I spent time with constituents, local officials, and firefighters in Luna, which was recently evacuated due to fire.

With lives and livelihoods on the line, it is important to ask the tough questions about how we got here.

Healthy forest management has been prevented by a barrage of environmental lawsuits that hamstring the Department of the Interior and advocate reckless policies.

As a result, logging is banned, we lose thousands of jobs, and forests become heavily overgrown, creating ideal conditions for a quickly-spreading, uncontrollable fire. Thousands are left without work, and the forest becomes even more imperiled.

A recent article by Ted Williams, a self-proclaimed "environmental extremist," said that groups like the Center for Biological Diversity and the WildEarth Guardians give "every environmentalist a bad name," with their lawsuits and agendas that cripple forest management.

He said that these have turned suing the government into an industry, and do so completely at the expense of wildlife.

While in the area last week, I spoke with representatives of the Mescalero Apache Tribe.

They tell me that the spotted owl is flourishing on the reservation because they have been responsible in cutting and thinning their forest over the years.

The Mescalero Tribe's success story should be implemented in the Lincoln National Forest.

The failure of the Forest Service to manage one of our nation's greatest resources is a disgrace.

I have submitted a bill in Congress calling for the immediate return of logging to the area while protecting the spotted owl in sanctuaries.

If action is not taken soon to change the course of our unhealthy forests around these local communities, our fate will almost certainly be the same as that of our friends west of here, where the Wallow Fire is devastating hundreds of thousands of acres.

The leadership of Otero County in this debacle should be commended. Otero County officials have taken action; recently they approved the creation of an "Emergency Forest Plan" to begin logging ten to twenty thousand acres of forest around Cloudcroft.

This commonsense decision will lead to responsible forest management, reducing the threat of fire and bringing much-needed jobs to the area. The Otero County Commission should be commended for their efforts, and other local governments should follow suit by refusing to tolerate reckless mismanagement of their lands.

Instead of fighting fires and watching our homes and resources go up in flames, imagine where we could be if the Forest Service would harvest our valuable timber, create jobs, and save our forests. Instead of policies that make economic sense and protect our forests, we continue to spend Forest Service revenues fighting fires created by decades of failed policies. It is time for the government to change course-or we will continue to watch our forests burn and our jobs go overseas.

Source