Originally published September 6 2005
Recreational value of national forests may lead to more logging
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Environmentalists fear the new evaluation of the recreational value of national forests by the Bush administration will be used to justify increased logging.
A new U.S. Forest Service assessment that slashes the estimated value of recreation in national forests by 90 percent will have little bearing on the management of California's federal lands, an agency official said Tuesday.
The new evaluation by the Bush administration cuts the estimated value of recreation in national forests from $111 billion to $11 billion, leading some environmentalists to warn that the study could be used to justify increased logging.
During the Clinton administration, the Forest Service estimated that recreation ultimately would contribute about $111 billion to the nation's gross domestic product.
That determination led to a push within the federal government to reduce logging and other activities associated with resource extraction on federal lands and emphasize hunting, fishing, wildlife watching and other recreational pursuits.
We recognize recreation activity is an important program to the American people."
Forest Service strategic planner Ross Arnold concluded that the Clinton administration's studies overestimated the number of people visiting national forests and the amount of money they would spend.
In 1995, Clinton administration officials calculated there would be 800 million annual visits to national forests by 2000.
Dan Smuts, deputy regional director of the California/Nevada office of the Wilderness Society, said he doubts the veracity of the new numbers.
"That is such a drastic decline from previous estimates that I find it hard to believe they considered the full aggregate of recreational activities pursued in national forests," Smuts said.
"They will cook the books for whatever they want."
But forestry trade groups and the timber industry hailed the reassessment, saying it more accurately reflects the true value of natural resources to the nation's economy.
"The bottom line for us is: There's value to all these resource uses," said American Forest Resource Council Vice President Christopher West.
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