Friday, August 7, 2009

Environmental Groups and Timber Companies Form Unlikely Alliance

This story appeared in the Seatle Times on August 3rd. Thought I would share it with my readers. It has real potential. Patrick Moore the once Green Peace advocate may have founded this idea in his book Green Spirit: Trees are the Answer (www.greenspirit.com/trees_answer.cfm).

Environmental groups turn to clear-cuts to stave off development

Environemtnal groups and timber companies have formed an unlikely alliance to back federal legislation that would support logging. The legislation would authorize $3 billion in tax-exempt revenue bonds to buy forest at risk of being converted into real estate. The bonds would support timber activities in exchange for conservation easements designed to keep the lands permanently undeveloped.

Expanding urban areas have increased land values and many timber companies are morphing into real estate giants. While many environmentalists are not fond of logging, they prefer its temporary effects to the permanence of development. It is at times an uneasy alliance.
"I'm an apostate, a turncoat on this issue," said Mitch Friedman, executive director of Conservation Northwest. We need to hug loggers the way we do farmers. Given the choice between a logger and a developer, I'm going to take the logger, even if that challenges some of the notions of my old friends (Lydia V. Mapes, Seatle Times, Aug. 3, 2009)

No comments: