Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability 1

vere forest fires for two reasons. First, removing themost fire-resistant large trees—the ones that are valuableto timber companies—encourages dense growthsof highly flammable young trees and rapidly growingunderbrush. Second, removing the large and mediumtrees leaves behind highly flammable slash. Many ofthe worst fires in U.S. history—including some ofthose during the 1990s—burned through cleared forestareas containing slash.Fire scientists agree that some forests on publiclands need thinning to reduce the chances of catastrophicfires, but they believe a program to accomplishthis should focus on two goals. One is to reduceground-level fuel and vegetation in dry forest typesand leave widely spaced medium and large trees thatare the most fire resistant and thus can help forestrecovery after a fire. These trees also provide criticalwildlife habitat, especially as standing dead trees(snags) and logs where many animals live. The othergoal would emphasize clearing of flammable vegetationaround individual homes and buildings and nearcommunities that are especially vulnerable to wildfire.Critics of the Healthy Forests law say that thesegoals could be accomplished at a much lower cost totaxpayers by a law that would give grants to communitiesespecially vulnerable to wildfires for thinningforests and protecting homes and buildings in theirareas.Goats to the RescueCalifornia has thousands ofwildfires every year. Prescribedburns are used to keep flammableunderbrush down, but someSOLUTIONS officials are worried about suchburns getting out of control.Officials in California cities such as Monterey,Malibu, Berkeley, and Oakland are using goats tohelp reduce the flammable vegetation on surroundinghills during the state’s six-month fire season.This low-tech approach is working. It takes aherd of about 350 goats one day to eat their waythrough an acre of underbrush.The goats are kept in movable pens, with electricfencing and water troughs. Before turning theherd loose, botanists put fences around smallplants and trees that are rare or endangered. Dogsare typically used to herd the goats and help protectthem from predators.Critical ThinkingCan you think of any disadvantages of using goatsto clear flammable underbrush? Are there anyother animals that could do this job?xHOW WOULD YOU VOTE? Do you support the HealthyForests Act that allows timber companies to remove largeand medium trees from most national forests without having toobey most environmental laws in exchange for thinning outflammable smaller trees and underbrush? Cast your voteonline at http://biology.brookscole.com/miller14.Case Study: How Should U.S. NationalForests Be Managed? An OngoingControversyThere is controversy over whether U.S. nationalforests should be managed primarily for timber,their ecological services, recreation, or a mix ofthese uses.For decades there has been controversy over the use ofresources in the national forests. Timber companiespush to cut as much of the timber in these forests aspossible at low prices. Biodiversity experts and environmentalistscall for sharply reducing or eliminatingtree harvesting in national forests and using more sustainableforest management practices (Figure 11-13)for timber cutting in these forests. They believe thatnational forests should be managed primarily to providerecreation and to sustain biodiversity, water resources,and other ecological services.Between 1930 and 1988, timber harvesting fromnational forests increased sharply. One reason is thattimber companies pressured Congress to increase timberharvests. Also, Congress passed a law that allowsthe Forest Service to keep most of the money it makeson timber sales. This makes timber cutting a key wayfor the Forest Service to increase its budget.In addition, a 1908 law gives counties within theboundaries of national forests one-fourth of the grossreceipts from timber sales. This encourages countygovernments to push for increased timber harvesting.By law, the Forest Service must sell timber for noless than the cost of reforesting the cleared land. Butthis price does not include the government-subsidizedcost of building and maintaining access roads for timberremoval by logging companies.The Forest Service’s timber-cutting program losesmoney because revenue from timber sales does notcover the costs of road building, timber sale preparation,administration, and other overhead costs. Becauseof such government subsidies, timber sales fromU.S. federal lands have lost money for taxpayers in 97of the last 100 years!According to a 2000 study by the accounting firmEconorthwest, recreation, hunting, and fishing in nationalforests add 10 times more money to the nationaleconomy and provide 7 times more jobs than does extractionof timber and other resources. Figure 11-16(p. 210) lists advantages and disadvantages of loggingin national forests.http://biology.brookscole.com/miller14209