Salvage or burn

The rains are finally coming, and with cool nights, the fire season is coming to a close. Hundreds of thousands of acres were burned and many millions of board feet of timber killed. Will this timber be salvaged or left to rot?

Past experience makes me almost certain that it will be rot or re-burn after falling down. The so-called environmental groups (I call them obstructionist-preservationists) have, in the past, been successful in preventing any salvage. This has been done with petty lawsuits and insinuations that it's just another excuse to log. Liberal judges have furthered their cause. Politicians also are to blame.

The purpose of this letter is to make you aware of what is happening. The 1967 Sundance Fire (56,000 acres) was salvage logged and newcomers would not recognize the area as a burn. I hope that with the right political pressure, and proper news reporting, that most burned areas can be salvaged.

JERRY STERN

Sagle