Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 10, 1994 TAG: 9402100089
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It did not take long, however, before her staff spotted it and started passing around the eye-catching table-top book with dozens of color photographs of once lush forests stripped bare of trees.
"It's interesting," Joy Berg said. "As a matter of fact, I had to take it out of someone's hands to get it back in here."
This month and next, a network of national environmental groups is delivering a copy of the book to all 156 forest supervisors in the country.
In addition, every member of Congress will receive a copy, as will reporters, activists, key federal and state officials, forestry schools and some timber interest groups.
The "green" groups want to stop clear-cutting on all federal lands and are backing proposed legislation that would do just that.
Berg's copy was hand-delivered by George O'Nale of Craig County, where most of the land lies within the national forest.
The 291-page book contains dramatic photos of huge tracts of land that have been clear-cut - a method of timber harvesting that clears the land of all trees.
It includes essays on sustainable forestry and ecosystem management, quotes from some of the country's most noteworthy environmentalists, and even a poem or two.
Most of the pictures are from Western states and western Canada, where clear-cutting accounts for more of the total timber harvest than in Eastern forests. And many of the pictures depict private lands.
"The photographs speak for themselves," reads the accompanying news release, "thoroughly illustrating the dead-end path of industrial forestry. It's that simple."
But it's not. Many professional foresters and agency officials contend that clear-cutting remains a viable, economical way to fell trees.
"I think it's the best management tool that can be used," said Daniel Deeds, chairman of the Appalachian Forest Management Group, a grass-roots pro-logging organization in Covington.
Only one road is needed to access areas to be clear-cut, Deeds said. The harvest method is beneficial to several wildlife species and allows more sunlight in for young oak, poplar and other hardwoods.
Further, clear-cuts aid in controlling pests and disease, including the destructive gypsy moth, Deeds said.
This type of timber harvesting has dropped significantly in western Virginia's national forests. While the book contains a few pictures from neighboring states, it has none from Virginia.
"There's probably reasons for that," said George Washington spokesman Terry Smith. "We've gotten away from clear-cutting, because people don't like it."
In 1989, clear-cutting accounted for 95 percent of the total timber harvest in the George Washington. Last year, that dropped to 27 percent.
Same story for the Jefferson: 84 percent of the harvest was clear-cut in 1984, dropping last year to 33 percent, or 789 acres in the 710,000-acre forest. The average clear-cut is about 21 acres.
"I think the Jefferson compares well with these [photos]," said Berg, who has worked in national forests in Alaska and California. "We don't have the horizon-to-horizon, as-far-as-the-eye-can-see kind of clear-cuts."
The Jefferson, along with Virginia Tech's College of Forestry, is conducting demonstration projects on several types of harvesting, including clear-cutting.
Berg invited anyone who is interested in seeing timber harvesting in action to call her agency.
by CNB