WTF, Mr. President?

Posted on 07/16/2009 at 1:41 pm by Bob Cesca

This is unacceptable:

This week, the Obama administration approved the sale of timber in a roadless national forest in Alaska. The Tongass National Forest is a 17 million acre temperate rain forest in southeast Alaska, which is home to both endangered species and native Alaskan tribes. It is the largest temperate rain forest in the United States.

This is phenomenally wrong. Please contact the White House and let them know how you feel.

Email
Comments: 202-456-1111
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Epic Obama Fail.

UPDATE: To be fair, perhaps I jumped the gun on this a little bit. It’s “only” 381 acres out of tens of millions. And the administration has, in fact, reinstated a Clinton ban on road building in 50 million acres of national forest. And then there’s this news that just came down:

The Obama administration is scrapping the Bush administration’s attempt to boost logging in Northwest forests by scaling back protection for the northern spotted owl.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Thursday that a plan to increase logging on federal lands in western Oregon could not stand up to legal challenges under the Endangered Species Act. The plan would have reduced protections for spotted owls.

In my defense, whenever I see that private industry is logging in public park land, I go a little nuts. I don’t think you can me blame for that.

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  • http://politicalpartypooper.wordpress.com/ Political Party Pooper

    Bob, he’s reduced the amount of logging in roadless national forests by ninety percent. Aren’t you satisfied with that?

  • http://tarackian.deviantart.com J M Ashby

    I would guess this is probably an oversight or something that slipped through the cracks.If it really was approved by the top, then shame on them. But my guess is oversight. You know… like flying a 747 low over NYC.

  • Dustee

    I hope this was an oversight by them. I can’t go for that.

  • DaBomb

    Please read the whole entire article. It’s only 380 acres of land out of 17,000,000 acres of land. They will also be mandated to grow back the trees.Obama has also reduced the amount of logging being done in national forests by a huge amount. This is a complete non-story.

  • Chris Koeber

    I read the entire article and in isolation, Dabomb is correct. The impact is small and it is plausible that Sectretary Vilsack’s hands were tied:

    Tongass environmental activists had been hoping Vilsack’s announcement would translate to a temporary moratorium on timber road-building in roadless areas, including Orion North and three other timber sales on the Tongass. President Obama supported the roadless rule in his campaign.Tom Waldo of Earthjustice, a law firm that has fought to keep roadless areas roadless, said he hoped Vilsack had made Orion North an exception because it was already in the works when he issued his directive.Contractors have already built about a mile of the 6.9 miles that are to be built for the sale. Another 1.9 miles of old roads will be rebuilt for the 381-acre clear-cut, according to Tongass spokeswoman Erin Uloth.

    However, Bob Cesca’s right on the merits. We should not sacrifice our environment for temporary economic recovery!The idea is ill-conceived and the Administration should not be making any plans whats-so-ever to prop up industries that eventually destroy us on the long haul. There are hundreds of ways to get main street back on track and it starts with getting us out of the mentality that we need to keep crappy industries alive.I say call the White House just to be on the safe side. I did.

  • Jan

    Yup. i’d say we’ve hit the bottom of the barrel when we have to rape rain forests for a few jobs. It’s ironic to me that we never hear anyone going after all these companies that are laying off millions of people.Both Alaskan senators are fine with this I read somewhere. Figured Palin would be out in full force. Haven’t seen her yet.

  • natashacrk

    I am SO pissed about this!

  • gypsy

    no, this is in fact bullshit! it’s putting a bandaid on a broken leg. it may only be 381 acres of the forest being cleared to “finish building the road” but where is the road going?! when this one is finished there will be another and another and another. not to mention building the road itself will cost more than the loggers get payed for clearing it. i read no where in the article that they were to replant, but even if that’s the case, think of the wildlife that will be killed/forced to move from that area. also think about how many years it will take the trees to get back to where they’re helpful in balancing the environment. this was done in order to say we created (fill in the blank) jobs and boosted the economy. it’s bullshit! i need another list of obama’s accomplishments because the things i care about (that he ran on) seem to constantly get fucked by him. where are the smart jobs?! solar, wind, technology, etc. where’s the increased education? instead of building a road to fucking nowhere through a national forest why aren’t we (re)building infrastruture within the 48?! jesus…

  • gypsy

    i just programmed the white house into my phone. if i disappear, i loved you all. ;)

  • http://www.bobcesca.com Bob_Cesca

    Okay so maybe I jumped the gun on this. But “national forests” and “logging” are words I don’t like to see in the same sentence.Updated above.

  • http://www.osborneink.com Matt Osborne

    gypsy, roads are an essential element of forestry. In order to study the health of trees, remove sick trees, and fight forest fires, you must have roads.

  • http://www.podiumcafe.com chris

    You can’t paint with broad brushstrokes when discussing timber sales. Yes, if it’s an old growth stand and they’re ploughing a new road solely to get there, that’s bad. But you have to look into the details of each one. Also each sale has its own history, which can go back several years (i.e. before the new admin “owns it”).That said, I would respond to every such announcement that “there’s a sale, are we sure about this?”

  • FrictionSoul

    Roads are necessary. Says Matt. Roads are necessary only for clearcutting, and that’s what this is.381 acres is .59 square miles, just a little over a half miles square. So why is the road 6.9 miles long? Because it’s not long, it switchbacks up.And it’s not just 381 acres; the entire perimeter is affected.Bob, you didn’t jump the gun. There will be more of this short term gain-long term problems for years to come.

  • DP23

    The Reagan/Watt decimation of Uwharrie Nat’l Forest just to the south of me is still a staggeringly sad eyesore and I’m not even sure any one species was endangered–maybe some deer hunters. I tend to get a twitchy eye when I see posts like this one, Bob.

  • gypsy

    matt, the majority of forest fires we have today are started by humans. so with greater access comes greater risk. also, remote locations are usually reached by air for multiple reasons, preservation being one of them. and i’m not sure how effective a fire truck trying to reach a fire somewhere in ten’s of millions of acres of forest would be. this too is usually by air. i’m just glad palin is not involved. she would try to build a sam’s club out there.