[log in to unmask] wrote:
> On the other side of the "conservationist / environmentalist" fence are the
> tree huggers.  By their own admission, they want to stop deforestation at
> all costs (take special note of the last paragraph in the document:
> http://www.britell.com/audubon.html).  Somehow, I think they believe that
> nature will continue to nurture and provide everything necessary to sustain
> a healthy forest.  That belief is where I think the "lunatic" label comes
> from.  Several stunning examples of this failed belief just happened
> recently here in the U.S.  Since logging has been stopped in vast stretches
> of forest in the western part of the U.S., we have had several wild fires
> that consumed millions of acres.  Regardless of how the fires got started,
> we lost more timber and animal habitat because the tree huggers did every
> thing in their power to prevent the clearing and maintaining of fire access
> roads and removal of abnormally high undergrowth.  So, Nature responded the
> only way she knows how.  By burning everything within her grasp without
> regard to people, property or animal life.  But, even after vivid examples
> of how forests left untouched can lead to such devastation, the tree
> huggers still persist in their ways.

Must...resist...the...urge...to...rant...

Now you've done it -- this thread has veered to the EXACT topic hinted at in
the Subject: header.  ;-)  Yesterday I got the last PostgreSQL RDBMS test to
pass on MPE, and I don't want to be distracted of my goal of releasing a binary
beta test later this week, so I will again conserve those California electrons
(rolling blackouts are in effect today) and be brief.

The cause of catastrophic forest fires is NOT lack of logging.  The true cause
is 150 years of unnatural fire suppression to protect the economic interests of
the lumber industry.

Western forests have done quite nicely on their own for many thousands of years
since the end of the Ice Age.  Fire is a natural part of this ecosystem.
Recurring small fires thin out the forests and clear away the dead underbrush,
keeping fuel levels short of the point that resulted in last summer's mass
burning.

Nature only responded the way she did due to human interference in natural
processes.

Fire is a necessary part of a healthy forest ecosystem.  The major Yellowstone
fires of some time ago have proven to be a boon for that ecosystem.  The same
will eventually be said about the terrain burned last year.

Just say no to forest fire suppression unless people's lives (not lumber
industry profits) are in danger.
--
[log in to unmask]
Remainder of .sig suppressed to conserve scarce California electrons...