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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 16, 1992                   TAG: 9201160384
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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FORESTS AREN'T JUST FOR PRESERVATION

ALTHOUGH your Jan. 8 editorial "A public woodland's future" contains many errors, I would like to comment on the two major ones.

The completed draft plan has not been a "tug of war between timber interests and conservationists." It's been a tug of war with professional foresters, tree farmers, loggers, hunters, wildlife specialists, motorized recreationists, and common-sense conservationists on one side, with preservationists - funded by their special-interest groups - on the other.

The statement that "these are public lands intended for preservation" sums up the author's problems. National-park lands are intended for preservation. The national forests are to be managed as working multiple-use forests. STEPHEN A. BENNETT Board of Directors Appalachian Forest Management Group COVINGTON

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