Issue Position: As Americans we should all be interested in intelligent ways to be good stewards of our environment

Issue Position

Unfortunately the "environmental movement" has become increasingly active in obstructing proper resource management and profiting from frivolous lawsuits. The cumulative effects of lawsuits waged by neo-environmental groups has depleted public agency budgets to the point where even the U.S. Forest Service can no longer manage timber in a reasonable and beneficial manner.

The fact is some of these prominent so-called environmental organizations are doing more harm than good. And they are getting rich by exploiting the emotions and pocket books of unsuspecting donors who truly care about our environment.

Decades ago, the spotted owl and the Endangered Species Act were used to shut down much of the U.S. timber industry. Since then we have seen the ESA mis-used to halt beneficial uses of public and private property - even when there was no threat of the species going extinct. The insertion of emotionally charged, politically driven management rather than science-based decision making has lead to unhealthy forests, destructive insect epidemics, catastrophic wildfires, degradation of watersheds, a rampant wolf population, and destruction of our environment.

Counties with National Forests features current information on Endangered Species Act reforms and other policy issues related to forest management.

Organizations like Smoked Bear have produced estimates on the millions of animals burned up in wildfires and the billions of pounds of toxic pollution emitted into the air. They are helping to educate people about managing forests and range lands in a way which employs logging and grazing to reduce catastrophic wildfires, protect wildlife, promote ecological health, and provide living-wage jobs.

The American Forestry Resource Council promotes scientifically responsible forestry on both public and private forest lands.

The American Lands Council is working to get federally managed lands turned over to the states who are willing to manage their public lands and resources more prudently.

The River Exchange promotes healthy watersheds through proper management and thinning of forests to reduce adverse impacts of catastrophic wildfires.

And below, Allan Savory proposes Holistic Management, a method he says will reverse climate change to pre-industrial age levels through an increase in grazing animals on our grasslands. He suggests that desertification of the world's grasslands is the immediate cause of poverty, social breakdown, violence, cultural genocide -- and a significant contribution to climate change. In the 1960s, while working in Africa on the interrelated problems of increasing poverty and disappearing wildlife, Savory made a breakthrough in understanding the degradation and desertification of grassland ecosystems. After decades of study and collaboration, thousands of managers of land, livestock and wildlife on five continents today employ this methodology.

"Burning one hectare of grassland gives off more, and more damaging, pollutants than 6,000 cars. And we are burning in Africa, every single year, more than one billion hectares." - Allan Savory

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