We have been deluged by responses to Barry Wynsma's thoughtful essay on Forest Service leadership - or the lack thereof. Provided here is some feedback on the essay.
W.V. "Mac" McConnell writes from Florida. He is a U.S. Forest Service retiree whose Power Point presentations have appeared on our website many times. His latest efforts are nearby: an updated version of his earlier "Timber Resource Management" Power Point and a fascinating photograph, "One Landscape: Four Views," that shows what is happening on adjacent public and private forests at Deep Creek, near Townsend, Montana.
Editor's comment concerning Mike Petersen's (Executive Director - Lands Council) Response To Dr. Tom Bonnicksen's Essay, "Death Of A Forest: Why We Should Care"
Editor's Note: Editor’s Note: Thomas Gould, a brilliant young lawyer in Florida wrote us in response to Jim Petersen’s December 5, 2011Washington Times column [Washington Doesn’t Need to Regulate Rain!]. Click here. Gould, a shareholder in Akerman Senterfitt, represents private property owners in cases involving land use and environmental regulation. His well-researched essay argues forcefully against a May 2011 Ninth Circuit Court decision requiring timberland owners to secure pollution discharge permits for their logging roads. Gould’s analysis is well worth reading.
Judicial Regulation and Killing Jobs: The Ninth Circuit's Forest Roads' Decision – Waving Goodbye to Science-Based BMPs and More Than 35 Years of Regulatory Precedent
By: Thomas Gould, SHAREHOLDER OF AKERMAN SENTERFITT’S REAL ESTATE PRACTICE
What began in September 2006 as an isolated citizen's suit under 33 U.S.C. § 1365 of the Clean Water Act (the CWA), has been transformed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (Ninth Circuit) into arguably the most significant judicial holding to directly (and negatively) impact private and public forest landowners, operators, managers and their collective economic activities. In the lawsuit, plaintiff argued that precipitation-based runoff from forest roads used for logging activities constituted an industrial (not silvicultural) activity, which should be considered a "point source" discharge under the CWA. As such, plaintiffs asserted the runoff would be subject to the CWA's section 402 National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting program and requirements.
The Ninth Circuit agreed with plaintiff's argument. By doing so, the Ninth Circuit defied more than over 35 years of regulatory precedent involving the Silviculture Rule, ignored contrary judicial interpretations regarding the rule, and held that forest roads and their associated ditches and culverts constitute "point sources" under section 402 of CWA. No longer, according to the Ninth Circuit, would traditional logging activities fall under the protection of the Silviculture Rule. Instead, these forest management activities would now be required to obtain an NPDES permit under section 402 of the CWA, in contradiction to the clear protections afforded by the Silviculture Rule.
Best of Evergreen
Our Daily Wood
Every day, each of Earth's 5.4 billion inhabitants, on the average, use the equivalent of a 4-pound slab of wood. But the average American uses 3.5 times this much wood. Should American's be using less wood? No Way!
