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Eric Cantona

as an avid outdoorsman and native Oregonian i could fill several pages with my thoughts about clear cutting, but i'll try to just lay out a few brief thoughts.

you are most likely not seeing more clearcuts in the last few years because the price of lumber is in the gutter, and very few operations are cutting.

the price of lumber is key to how logs are harvested, as well. unless the rest of the world adopts similar non-clearcutting requirements, we'll not see it here. the bottom line is that the cost of harvesting in any other fashion is too costly to be able to compete in the world market.

life sucks if you're a tree in Oregon...

Nikos

These pictures are shameful. They are also offensive from the aesthetic standpoint. The combination of greed (corporate or otherwise), poverty (loggers?), and lack of cultural sensitivity and education (corporations, loggers, the average voter) is what will unfortunately rule the day. Sad.

emulsy

Yeah, man. Rush had it right.

"So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights
'The oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light'
Now there's no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe and saw"

Greg

It seems like that drive became worse within the past few years, but I thought that the "newer" clear cuts were a result of clearing out trees that been knocked over in windstorms.

So while I sympathize with this rant, there may be more to the story in regards to recent subtractions from the landscape.

Jeff

Yes, Greg is correct. The first picture, as you approach the Seaside/Cannon Beach 101 junction, was a salvage cut from the winter blow down two years ago. It looked like the blow-out from Mt. St. Helens in the weeks after the storm-trees snapped like twigs. On the north side of 26 a few miles further east is a row of fifteen or more giant firs blown over with 25-30 foot root balls forming a wall. Nature can be nasty!

s

Hike up to Saddle Mountain on a sunny day. There are certainly many more acres of bare land than just from winter storms. Our logging policy must change.

David

Here is a question: What building material is more "green" than wood? Those of you who are advocates of "alternative" building productes should consider the facts. Steel, brick, aggrogate and plastic are all recyclable, but non renewable. Wood is both! We have a rich history in this State, and the Tillamook State Forest is a prime example of good forest management in this state is all about. That area was scorched by three fires! Mud flowed, fish runs were flushed out, and some thought the forest would never come back. But look at the results! We know how to grow trees, our livelihood depends on it! I agree that a clear cut looks bad. But it's temporary. Trees get planted within one year, if not sooner, the brush grows, and the large forest animals have a place to forage. Take a picture of the area that you think is the worst of the worst, for 5 years in a row, and watch the trees grow! It's a great responsibility we have to provide green jobs, and a green building material. Why would we want other countries with less stringent laws than ours supply the USA with wood?

carless in pdx

Sustainable wood harvesting is probably the best and most efficient way to sequester carbon from the atmosphere, as well.

Dave


I just returned from some drives in the Tillamook forest, and the entire watershed appears to be a disaster. I didn't drive on one back road where all hillsides within view hadn't been almost completely clearcut, and where waters were all running silty with soil runoff. A lifelong Oregon resident, I am completely appalled. I have a bio degree and have spent hundreds of hours observing Oregon forests, and the series of burns 50 plus years ago have no relationship to this much more recent devastation. Wow. I can't believe these logging practices have been allowed. On both private and public lands.

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