logging and environmental problems

[Dick Wagner]

Well, I keep hearing people describe how environmentally sensitive they are, but as 
far as I can tell, it's just bologna. For every environmentally sensitive logger, 
there are hundreds of Neanderthal bastards who see the woods as a enemy to be 
destroyed at all costs. Every wooded area in my part of Georgia has been logged to 
death over the past 200 years. What that means for trees, I'm not real sure, but I 
can tell you that it's not a forest any more. The understory has never recovered, 
and if you are interested in anything other than deer or trees, you basically have 
to do it yourself. 

These mountainous areas are also blest with fairly shallow soil, so tree culture is 
not even particularly productive.

There are rules that loggers are supposed to follow, but they are completely ignored 
both by the timber/paper industries and by the state government that is supposed to 
enforce them.  The timber industries bring enough money into the state that no one 
will ever criticise them. It's sort of like selling your children if you can get 
enough cash for 'em.

I bought some land a few years ago and about 60 acres of it had been "highgraded" by 
a local cutter who is considered very environmentally aware. I still can't figure 
out what to do with it. Unfortunately, I can't wait 300 or 400 years for the forest 
to reassert itself.