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

DATE: THURSDAY, April 29, 1993                   TAG: 9304290505
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CAN'T SEE THE TREES FOR THE LUMBER

ONCE AGAIN special-interest groups are holding us hostage. Lumber prices have more than doubled the past year. Why? They say pressure by environmentalist groups has reduced cutting areas. Most people realize we need both lumber and environmental protection, but we don't need to be made pawns in the special-interest groups' struggle. It doesn't require genius-level intellect to see the motivation behind the transparent lumber-industry ploy. They realize if prices are raised sufficiently, public outrage will force Congress to reverse the present environmental policy and then the lumber industry will be free to decimate 300-year-old stands of timber.

Lumber companies are always telling us that it doesn't hurt to cut all the old-growth forests because "trees are a renewable resource." Sure they are. After all huge old-growth trees are cut, we will only have to wait 200 or 300 years to find a tree large enough to saw a 10-inch or 12-inch board. Meanwhile, gypsy moths, acid rain and other inhibiting factors compound the problem by slowing growth, killing trees and further reducing availability.

Regardless of what you hear, trees are a finite resource when considered in any specific time period and should be treated as such.

The solution is to quit selling timber rights in old-growth forests to lumber companies (many Japanese-owned) at 1 percent of cost of sale. Also, since old-growth forests are a finite, vital resource, the export of old-growth logs and lumber must stop. Shiploads of huge logs leave our country every day.

If we pursue this course of action, we will not only protect our environmental heritage, but will have all the lumber we need for our own use, and at a reasonable price. As it stands now, lumber for the house you were planning to build has doubled in price. The time for action is now - while the trees still stand tall. ROBERT PRICE NEW CASTLE

by CNB