Forest Service must reach out locally, new chief says
 
 
(Note: Mention of 'conspired'! But wait! When our side says it, there is immediate action to marginalize our credibility by mention of black 'copters and 'conspiracy theorists'. Now Bosworth uses it to make recreationists out to be the bad guys. Why don't more folks 'get it' -- that his agenda is / instructions are to take control of as many acres of America as his agency, the Forest Service, can get? Like the NPS, USFWS, etc., working in choreographed synchroninity with The Nature Conservancy and other 'land trusts' and 'NGOs', these agencies are NOT planning to be benevolent toward vacationers and other recreationists. Those that think 'off-road vehicle users' are going to be the only ones targeted for removal from mega-millions of acres -- are enjoying a pipe dream. Like logging, or commercial fishing, or ranching, or mining, or farming, each facet of recreationist is planned to be removed from as much of America as possible. This is the truth, no matter how it may be 'pooh-poohed' by federal employees now. Said employees continue to count on the proven short memories of Americans. Bosworth, with his own words -- "eco-restoration" -- is telling us that he is an implementer of The Wildlands Project. Why are so few actually hearing him? He's 'selling' facilitated consensus -- 'conflict resolution' and major use of language deception, but some of the agenda is actually said, though few folks 'red flag' when they hear/read it. "Eco-restoration" means the retaking of resources under the guise of "restoring" to "pre-European settlement" time. That means: NO EUROPEAN INHABITANTS of America! It means no European-descendants owning their own farms, ranches, mills, mines, etc. "Eco-restoration" is as warm and fuzzy as a HAIRBALL! His paying 'lip service' to 'the public' and 'public involvement in decision-making is just that: lip service. The ink is already dry on the agenda and it will continue to be implemented at the expense of the responsible resource providers of America and those myriad small rural towns that are being 'rurally cleansed' by "eco-restoration" -- until many more folks learn about language deception and how it is employed to paralyze the intellect and put emotions before cognitive thought processes.)
 
November 20, 2004
 
By Joe Baird jbaird@sltrib.com
 
The Salt Lake Tribune
 
Salt Lake City, Utah
 
 
To submit a Letter to the Editor:
 
Boise, Idaho - A changing culture and changing values, coupled with different land conditions and uses have all conspired to alter the mission of the U.S. Forest Service, the agency's chief said Friday. 
 
But how well the Forest Service adapts to this evolution will be dependent on how willing it is to include the public in its decision-making process, Dale Bosworth told the annual Conference on Fire and Forest Health at Boise State University.
 
"We are now in an era of eco-restoration. This is what people want today from their public lands," Bosworth said.
 
"We have to manage for long-term eco-health while involving the public in the decision making. What we leave on the land will be much more important than what we take."
 
The old Forest Service emphasis on fire suppression and timber sales, the chief noted, has given way to forest management, particularly as it relates to the urban interface -- where metropolitan America meets the forests -- and the demand put on forest land by outdoor recreationists.
 
"I believe we're at a crucial moment in history," Bosworth told the conference, sponsored by the Andrus Center for Public Policy.
 
Essentially, the agency head said, the Forest Service faces four challenges:
 
what he called the "unnatural accumulation" of forest undergrowth, which have now become fire fuel; the toll invasive species such as the bark beetle are taking on forest lands; 
 
the continuing loss of open space, particularly forest coverage and rangelands;
 
and, the people-related pressure being put on the land by recreationists, particularly off-road vehicle users.
 
"People will love the forest to death if we let them," Bosworth said. And given the scale of the challenges, he said, it "leaves us with no choice -- we all have to work together. 'Community-based forestry' is easy to say. It's much tougher to pull off. There are areas in which we have a ways to go to achieve true collaboration. But we can improve the way we work together.”
 
To that end, Bosworth acknowledged that the Forest Service must be more flexible than in the past, but believes that by doing a better job of reaching out --
especially at the local level -- that the public trust can be restored and problems can be solved.
 
"In any decision we make we must have a broad base of public support. And that has to include local people, the people who live in and around the area that's being impacted," he said.
 
"There is more awareness of the problems now. What we need are solutions."
 
Copyright 2004, The Salt Lake Tribune.