THE debate over old-growth forests pits preservationists against those depending on this timber for their livelihood. With each side committed to different uses of nature, conflict seems inevitable, for not all good things go together. This conflict is heightened by public ownership and political control. Special-interest groups are special precisely because they focus on their […]
Read More
WHEN considering the proposed “Ancient Forest Summit” or “Timber Summit” (word choice is significant), we should carefully segregate our hopes from our expectations. Yet I’m hopeful that the summit will increase understanding and improve policy. Here’s why. Twenty years ago my colleagues and I at Montana State University advocated market incentives and property rights as […]
Read More
THERE is much talk today about “reinventing government.” The goal is to both improve outcomes and save dollars. The Forest Service is an excellent candidate for such reforms. The Forest Service’s creators are credited with high ideals, but America’s sylvan socialism has suffered the liabilities of socialism elsewhere. The Forest Service was created because of […]
Read More
MANY recreationalists bristle at the prospect of recreation fees on our national forests. Why should we pay to hike on “our” land? They are outraged, however, when they encounter clear-cuts near timberline on these same lands. But if they could choose between recreation fees and timber cutting, might fees then be accepted as the lesser […]
Read More
Second in a series of articles on the Forest Service and the economics of the timber industry. BROCK Evans, vice president and chief lobbyist for the National Audubon Society, recently spoke at a University of Washington Environmental Management Seminar. In response to a question about reforming the Forest Service, he cataloged many destructive, wasteful and […]
Read More
CLINTON’S appointments of two strong environmentalists to the posts of secretary of the interior and administrator of EPA have alarmed many business leaders. But the choices of Bruce Babbitt and Carol Browner for these key environmental positions accurately reflect the “greening of America.” They reconfirm the practical necessity for business to act in environmentally sensitive […]
Read More
AS PRESIDENT-ELECT Clinton and Vice President-elect Gore look toward Jan. 20, they must confront the problem of reconciling their environmental rhetoric with economic reality. Much is promised: Al Gore’s environmental commitment is unprecedented for a vice president and adds to pent-up pressures to address environmental concerns. But this pressure comes during a flat economy and, […]
Read More
James Watt, Ronald Reagan’s first Secretary of the Interior, was an environmental paradox. To environmentalists, he personified an obsolete view of nature, a view seeing only commercial value in natural resources. But for the Greens, Watt was a useful icon of rapacious industrial exploitation. As such, he deserves much of the credit for the rise […]
Read More
International trade, a vital component of the Northwest economy, has come under fire from a seemingly unlikely source: environmentalists. At issue is the recently concluded North American Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA), between Canada, Mexico, and the United States. NAFTA would create the world’s largest free-trade zone, encompassing over 360 million people and $6.2 trillion worth of […]
Read More
The federal Endangered Species Act itself may soon be endangered. Throughout the American West, the law now threatens to devastate entire economies based upon altering nature – logging, mining, damming rivers. And many environmentalists are gloating. They are using the grizzly, the wolf and the salmon – symbolically some of America’s most important creatures – […]
Read More