“Perhaps Ken Burns had the right idea when he named his public-television series The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. Even though I worked for the Forest Service for 34 years, I’m inclined to agree with him about the importance of our nation’s parks. But the national forests are surely our second-best idea, a priceless asset despite the call from some Westerners to sell off our forests and privatize them.” Source: www.hcn.org.
GR: As I read its history, the U. S. Forest Service has always been, and remains today, a tool of corporate greed. There are exceptions to the exploitative emphasis of this tool of the business world, but the exceptions are rare. Where are the roots of the problem? Could it be in the nation’s university Forestry Departments where new foresters are indoctrinated into the forestry for profit system? Do we correct the problem by closing our forestry schools and sidelining all our professional foresters while we find replacements from Ecology Departments untouched by commercial concerns?
