A few forestry facts

Regarding Mr. Mike Reno’s letter of Dec. 24 (“Markets and forest harvesting”):

Wayne Lythgoe is neither a parrot nor an advocate for denuded forests. Factual information for Mr. Reno may be helpful for his understanding. The national forests grow about 18-20 billion board feet of timber every year and in recent years a harvest of 2-4 billion was the norm. Lumber mills simply close without a supply of timber/logs. Environmentalists, through appeals and injunctions, made sure this happened. They virtually stopped the sale of timber from Forest Service land.

Since the 1990s, mills from Valley to Spokane closed. During the same period, about six mills in Kootenai County closed. Mr. Reno’s neighbor would have had multiple mills closer than Colville to sell his timber to if the Forest Service had only continued to sell timber to them. It is no coincidence that insects, disease and wildfire are flourishing in our forests without regular thinning for nearly 30 years.

As for the Canadian lumber trains, Canada sells its timber resources at a value that ensures Canadian lumber will compete favorably with U.S.-manufactured lumber. It is a full-employment policy for their mill workers. Wish our politicians and Forest Service management were so enlightened.

Fred Ebel

Post Falls