Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 5, 1993 TAG: 9309050123
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"They know when I'm taking them in a particular direction that I'm probably checking something out," says Loesel.
He could be checking an area proposed for a timber cut, or a new wildlife clearing. Most likely, he's hunting down the district ranger and fishing for more information about the U.S. Forest Service's plans for the two national forests in Western Virginia.
As secretary of the Citizens Task Force on National Forest Management, Loesel has emerged as an outspoken contributor to the emotional debate over how our forests should be used.
The task force is a loose affiliation of conservationists with a board of eight members. Loesel is by far the most visible and active watchdog. He's persistent, omnipresent, sometimes intolerable crusader for his cause.
He's a process junkie. He thrives on paperwork and lugs around stacks of folders and maps. With a background in political science and landscape architecture, he easily submerges himself in the bureaucracy of forest planning.
"This is sort of Civics 101, in lots of ways," Loesel says. "I believe in planning. I equally, fervently believe in the importance of citizen participation."
And boy, does he participate.
On average, Loesel stops into the headquarters for the Jefferson National Forest two or three times a week, where he knows the top officials on a first-name basis. "You've got to know what questions to ask and keep pressing them," says Loesel.
Loesel is also wise to the ways of media. He visits reporters frequently, planting tips and bits of information in the hopes they'll grow into published articles.
He spends much of his time in his Roanoke County home office on forest business, talking on the phone and reviewing data-filled documents, ever watchful for flaws and cracks in the system.
This spring, he found some. Loesel has filed at least eight detailed appeals on proposed timber sales in the Jefferson National Forest, largely on technicalities.
He spends so much time on forest business, many wonder how he makes a living.
Loesel, 52, is an independent landscape architect. He's worked on school playgrounds, municipal parks, commercial property and private homes.
A Michigan native, he has a master's degree in political science from Washington University in St. Louis, and taught at Washington & Lee University for seven years. He became absorbed in forest policy in the early 1980s when it became apparent to him, after many trips to the forest, that "district rangers had very little authority to make decisions that really mattered."
In 1989, he received one of six annual awards for environmental education given by the federal Environmental Protection Agency's regional office. The award was for his 500-page guide for citizen monitoring of national forest management.
Loesel was also recognized that year by the Virginia Wildlife Federation for his efforts to get new state regulations on sulfur emissions and educating the public on air pollution issues.
He's also recognized by his arch-foes on forestry matters - the pro-timber Appalachian Forest Management Group.
"Jim's a master of the system, I'll give him credit," said Steve Bennett, a representative of the group and sawmill owner in Selma who's squared off with Loesel numerous times. "He can harass them [forest officials] better probably than any one else in the East."
Yes, Loesel calls himself an environmentalist. Who isn't these days? he asks.
But ask him what he would do with the 708,000 acres of Jefferson National Forest if he had unbridled power, and the normally talkative Loesel is struck silent.
He sits back in his chair. Every circuit in his brain is working on the question, his light blue eyes growing more intense. He smiles and lunges forward across his desk like he's hooked a fish.
"The No. 1 thing I want is a good process," he says, lacing his fingers together to express the interdependence of the public, the government, interest groups and the issues.
"Because nobody really cares about process."
Yes, but what does he want to see happen with the forest?
After much persistent questioning, he comes up with a few particulars. He doesn't want to eliminate clear-cutting or logging. But the number of trees harvested - and which ones - has to be decided through the planning process, he says.
Logging should be a profitable venture for the forest, which, in a short-term monetary sense, has been getting less than 50 cents on the dollar in its timber sale program.
"When I see a large load of timber leaving the forest, I get warm fuzzies thinking that those trees might have made money."
And the agency ought to consider charging a fee for hikers, campers and others. Blasphemy, perhaps, to many environmentalists, but in Loesel's view, it's only logical that everyone who uses the forest should share the cost.
Enhancing habitat for wildlife - and not just bear, deer and turkey - should be emphasized, as should wilderness areas that are left untouched by humans.
Loesel and the Citizens Task Force will be pushing that agenda as the Jefferson National Forest begins revising its management plan.
"One of the reasons I am so anxious for them to get a planner on board is because there is no one for me to talk to," he laments.
by CNB