Forests a topic of protest

Tahoe Daily Tribune

July 27, 1997
By Roseann Langlois
Bonanza Staff Writer

Environmentalist groups called upon the president and vice president Saturday to send the Forest Service a message: "Protect the forest, don't destroy it."

In conjunction with Saturday's presidential environmental summit at Incline Village, members of the Sierra Club and the League to Save Lake Tahoe met at 9 a.m. in Preston Field to discuss the group's environmental concerns and what action they deem necessary for positive environmental change.

They were joined by members of the Serving the Earth Committee and the Western Ancient Forest Campaign, two groups dedicated to preserving the nation's forests. "We're here to show our support for the president," said Jeff Cutler, assistant executive director for the League to Save Lake Tahoe. "Hopefully something meaningful will come of this," he said.

The groups' opinions were mixed as to whether meaningful environmental legislation has already occurred during the Clinton administration.

"We had high hopes that Clinton would support environmental legislation," said Nan Gustavson, coordinator for the Serving the Earth Committee. "But our tax money is being used to destroy the environment. It's a nightmare," she said.

Phyllis Kaiser of Reno had a different impression. "I think that the interest he has shown in the environment has been great," Kaiser said. "They recognize the problems and are working toward a solution. This wouldn't have happened 10 years ago," she said.

Although the League to Save Lake Tahoe's primary mission is to preserve the lake, leaders of the Sierra Club, the League to Save Lake Tahoe and the Western Ancient Forest Campaign placed heavy emphasis on the elimination of forest clear-cutting.

Barbara Boyle, Sierra Club Regional Director for Nevada, California and Hawaii, explained that the Forest Service has complained of a lack of funds in the past few years and has, in turn, begun to "salvage log," which allows timber companies to cut down thousands of large, fire-resistant Jeffrey pine and other valuable trees in order to entice them to also remove smaller trees and brush.

"The Forest Service's interference with nature has made the forest more susceptible to disease and to large-scale, dangerous wildfire," Boyle said. Instead of deforestation, the Sierra Club advocates restoring the ecosystem by reintroducing fire into the forest's ecology through controlled burning, Boyle said. "To restore healthy forests and the habitat they provide, we need to mimic nature, not fight it," she said.

Boyle added that the Tahoe Basin could serve as a model for ecosystem restoration in the Sierra Nevada and the nation as a whole.

"All of our environmental organizations need to work together. We need to keep Tahoe both blue and green," she said.