Why isn’t there bi-partisan support for our “healthy forests≠” How did we go from common sense to politics as usual≠

Why is our governor, who has made dozens of trips to Prescott in the past few years proclaiming she wants a healthy forest, vetoing the healthy forest bill≠ Why is our Rep. Tom O’Halleran saying veto it≠ Because of tree size and tax incentives to those that we need to do the work≠

When we were watching the mountainside burning up around Prescott, was it the size of the trees burning or the tax breaks or were we concerned that homes, lives and all the trees were in jeopardy of disappearing≠

All the facts and the history say that you don’t tamper with nature. Our society, our government put aside that belief eons ago by stopping forest fires. Now we know that was wrong.

Today we are faced with a forest that is overgrown and the U.S. Forest Service is trying to do what it can to get the forest thinned, burned, safe and healthy again. The litigation-happy environmentalists, like our very own Friends of the Forest, thwart its efforts. The cost to get forests back to where they belong is staggering.

Our own Congressman Rick Renzi and others in Congress have said there is not enough money in the treasury to get the forests back to where they need to be. So, what is the solution≠ Get private enterprise involved and get them to invest in the thinning and creating a healthy forest and done in a timely manner. Get the money from the private sector and get it invested now for the long term to get our forests healthy and our communities safe. However, there must be incentives to get the capital investment into thinning the forests.

But the disagreement is actually right here. What size trees do we cut≠ Logic says cut what is needed to thin the forests. Cut the smaller jack pines off the forest floor and then cut what is needed from the other trees to make the forest safe and healthy. Size shouldn’t matter; just thin the forests before we lose them to fire.

We need to get people involved who know the forests, not people who have emotions about forests and take up a cause. We need people who really understand the healthy forests and surrounding ecosystems. This is a must or we stand to lose all the trees.

The governor has already vetoed the bill for healthy forests. Why≠ One reason is that in an effort to stop all logging, the environmental lobby is using the size of the trees to stop any investment in the forest or any thinning — thus, a veto by the governor, applauded by Tom O’Halleran.

This move could be the worst move yet by our governor. Supervised logging is a management tool that needs to be used and quickly in our national forests. Using size of trees as an argument is nonsense. It is only a way to stop all healthy forest provisions from ever being enacted. It’s politics and nothing more. It isn’t helping us in Prescott.—

Steve M. Pierce, Prescott