Native Forest Council: Logging

YOUR taxes subsidize the destruction of YOUR national forests: 200 million acres of mountains, forests, rivers and streams that belong to the people of America and provide clean air, water and soil for our nation.

Aerial photos show the change from unbroken native forests to a sea of clearcuts in the Deschutes National Forest in Oregon. Click here for our aerial photo and Google Earth projects.

Little more than 100 years ago, our national forests were first opened to logging. Since that tragic decision, 40 million acres of national forest ecosystems have been clearcut, including all but five percent of America's native forests. The worst part? We're paying them to do it.

These maps show America's disappearing native forests, a legacy of destruction that began in 1620 and continues today. (1620, 1850, 1920, Present)

A Vanishing Legacy

With less than 5% of our original forest cover remaining, isn't it time we started saving what's left and restoring what's been lost?

The destruction of our nation's forests, rivers and streams - a living life-support system that gives us clean air, soil and water - costs the taxpayers billions annually. The Forest Service admits that it loses $1.2 billion dollars managing the federal timber program every year. Check out this report on how the Forest Service mismanages our tax dollars.

That's a figure confirmed by the Government Accounting Office, and it's a conservative estimate. Factor in all the costs and lost assets, and it's clear that the American taxpayers are losing trillions of dollars every year. We could pay every timber worker $30,000 a year to do nothing (or, better yet, restore what's been lost), and the taxpayers would still come out ahead by $80 million!

America's forests belong to you, corporations are making huge profits by logging your forests, and you're paying them to do it?

They get away with it because they use a fraudulent accounting system. They simply don't report all the costs that are involved; they hide logging subsidies and disguise the real costs of public lands logging. They don't consider the costs that the Forest Service absorbs with your taxes, nor do they consider the VALUE of your forests as an ecosystem that provides clean air, soil, and water.

For example, the Forest Service - the world's largest road-building enterprise - is responsible for a matrix of logging roads eight times the length of the interstate highway system. Timber corporations agree to pay for some of the costs of building the roads, and the Forest Service "reimburses" them by allowing the timber companies to log the trees. The Forest Service also provides management, reforestation and other services.

Why does congress allow this? Because government bureaucrats make money by allowing your public lands to be logged. Because big timber corporations out fund the congressional gravy train. Because timber industry lobbyists and their congressional lackeys will continue to push for logging in our national forests, despite the environmental and economic price.

Help us stop this destruction. Help us end the pattern of greed that steals your money and your natural heritage. Help us keep our publicly owned lands Forever Wild.

Click here to watch our Google Earth video on public lands logging

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