Greenwashing Senators Call for Increased Logging in National Forests

From the Cascadia Field Office of the Earth First! Journal

As part of the over-all land grab taking place for national resources in the US, the supposedly “green” Senator Ron Wyden from Oregon has joined with others to call for increased logging in national forests.

Since rising to the head of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Wyden has been rubbing elbows with the energy industry and showing his mettle as a die-hard profiteer. But his record is not entirely deplorable. He has spoken out against CIA assassinations as well as more egregious mining practices.

Still, a number of sources have reported that he and his national resources cronies are looking to increase logging by 20% in national forests across the country. Click below for a breaking communique from the Mt. Hood watchdog group, Bark:

Cross Posted from Bark-out.org

Last week Senator Ron Wyden called on President Obama to increase logging on Mt. Hood and other National Forests, despite Forest Service testimony that logging creates fewer jobs than recreation.

In one of his first acts as new committee chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden organized his colleagues (including fellow Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley) to send a letter to the president requesting more logging in our national forests, including Mt. Hood.

Logging programs that were designed to build the nation after World War II are outdated. Now we lose money on them and more importantly, we pay in long-term costs to the environment.

Recreation spending results in five times the contribution to GDP as timber, and five times the jobs.

Yet Congress only funds the Forest Service recreation budget at a fraction of its logging program. Did you know that Mt. Hood National Forest did not even have enough funding to pay trail crews last year?

Find out how to stop this insane plan here.