OCR Text |
Show The results of most logging are esthetically unattractive to many people. The fact that future stands of timber will be attractive is not an acceptable rationale to them to tolerate unnecessary environmental effects now. The United States has an affirmative obligation to minimize the impact on the environment from logging on public lands, even though this is a complex task. Such efforts should be directed not only to scenic effects, but air, soil, and water quality as well. The development of new multipurpose road systems and widespread public travel by air means that nearly all forest lands are visible to the public at large. Logging systems and layouts, in addition to protective roadside strips, must be designed to minimize scenic impacts. Logging practices must be such that waste is minimized, that logged areas are restored as soon as possible to an esthetically pleasing condition, and its effects, as well as those of road construction, on stream quality are minimized. We believe the agencies should make a continuing effort to improve controls over logging practices to assure that these desirable results are achieved. Further, a continuing research effort is necessary to find techniques and design systems that will help meet environmental quality objectives. Timber harvesting must also be recognized as a means of improving the condition and appearance of average forests. Public land forests must be managed through harvesting and regeneration so that we have an improved living resource for producing the multitude of values that can be obtained from healthy, growing woodlands. Timber purchasers should be required to comply with Federal, state, and local environmental quality standards in processing plants using timber from the public lands. Timber processing plants, particularly pulp and paper mills, contribute to both air and water pollution. Regardless of whether plants that process timber in the first manufacturing stage are on or off the public lands, compliance with established environmental quality standards should be required as a condition of obtaining a timber sale contract. We believe this is a desirable way to help enforce established standards for air and water quality and other aspects of environmental quality. Inasmuch as most environmental quality standards are established and policed by the states or local governments insofar as timber processing plants are likely to be concerned, we believe that close cooperation by the public land management agencies with the states and local governments can provide a workable means of implementing this recommendation. Responsibility for establishing that a plant is violating standards should generally rest with the state or local government. The public agencies would then Clearcutting in patches (above) is vital to achieve natural reseeding in Douglas-fir stands. Not so in Ponderosa pine forests (right) where selective cutting is practiced. 102 |