Over the past two hundred years, logging has evolved into the high-tech harvest of timber that it is today. This industry has developed around a way of life that epitomizes the traditional values of middle America. Through hard work and entrepreneurial spirit, independent loggers have been building small businesses, raising families, and having their slice of the American dream. Today this piece of Americana is under siege, literally. In medieval times, when a castle was under siege the attackers would surround it, cut off supply lines, and wait for starvation or surrender. That is what the rich and powerful environmental lobbies and conservation groups have done to the American logger. They have cut his supply lines. Using professional lobbyists in Washington and teams of lawyers in the courts, they have severely restricted the logger's access to public forests. If this land cannot be opened up for harvest, thousands of businesses will be forced to close, and tens of thousands will be unemployed. If this is allowed to happen, a piece of Americana, the independent logging operator, will die.
In the early 1800's the loggers in the Pacific Northwest were a wild and rowdy bunch. Living in the deep woods for months at a time in logging camps where the work was long, hard, and dangerous, they evolved into a breed of men that still symbolizes manhood and masculinity. Proud, boisterous, and fiercely competitive, their boasts often led to contests to find out who was the best logger. These competitions were often their only form of entertainment, since they very seldom made the journey to town, which could easily be several days away.
On the rare occasions when they did come to town, loggers were considered totally uncivilized and were generally avoided by most of the townspeople. But since they had plenty of money to spend, only fought with each other and seldom left the red light districts of saloons and brothels, they were generally tolerated by the locals. Civilized folks considered the logger a unique species, indigenous to the mountain wilderness.
But logging and loggers have both changed immensely since the early days. Logging today is highly technical and mechanized, with equipment costs running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is a far cry from the crosscut saw and oxen of years gone by. The loggers of today still have a wild and rowdy side to their personalities, but many are college educated, own their own businesses, and are likely to be found at computer terminals calculating board feet and yield per acre after a busy day in the woods.
Modern logging practices include planting, selective cutting, soil preservation, and many other forest conservation techniques. The logger of today knows that he is the manager of our greatest renewable resource, and his energies are aimed at guaranteeing a sustained harvest for the logger of tomorrow.
In recent years, however, logging has come under attack from several different environmental groups wanting to stop the harvest of America's old growth forests. These two hundred year old stands of Sitka Spruce, Western Hemlock, and Douglas Fir can be found high in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. The weapon that ecologists are using in this fight is the Northern Spotted Owl. The owl is being used as an indicator species, supposedly representing a decline in biodiversity, thereby signaling the beginning of the end for our great forests. Environmentalists use the impassioned cry that logging these forests will drive the owl to extinction. But the evidence does not seem to support either of these scenarios. Randy Fitzgerald, a free lance writer for Reader's Digest, claims that in Washington, Oregon, and California, six million acres of old growth forests are already strictly protected from logging. Enough virgin timber exists in these three states alone to form a band three miles wide from Seattle to New York (Fitzgerald 92).
According to Fitzgerald, in 1987 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) was asked by a Massachusetts group called Greenworld to add the Northern Spotted Owl to their list of endangered species. After considering the proposal, the FWS determined that the owl did not meet their requirements for an endangered species. Suddenly the crusade was on; twenty-two environmental groups ranging from the Seattle Audubon Society to the Sierra Club filed suit to reverse the decision. In June of 1990, after several court battles, the FWS reversed itself and listed the owl as threatened. A committee representing four federal agencies had concluded that the owl population was at two thousand pairs and declining, and decreased habitat was to blame (Fitzgerald 92-93).
James Rice, a forester who writes on environmental issues, tells us that by January 1992 the United States Forest Service had declared 7 million acres of old growth timber as habitat for the Northern Spotted Owl, and off limits to logging. This action, required by the Endangered Species Act, was the direct result of the FWS classification. It could claim from 33,000 to 100,000 well-paid jobs (Rice 41).
The lion's share of these jobs would be lost by independent loggers and their crews because they will have no timber to harvest. At the same time it is a windfall for companies owning their own forests; withholding resources could raise market prices as much as 30 percent. The ripple effect of this decision could reach to the heart of the American Dream. A 20 percent increase, says Fitzgerald, could also raise the price of houses, preventing 95,000 families from owning their own homes (Fitzgerald 94).
All of these administrative decisions and their consequences seem to be based on the power of environmental groups rather than on what the facts would dictate. The following facts do not substantiate environmentalists' claims: (1) the Northern Spotted Owl does not need the old growth forests to survive, (2) logging of these forests promotes biodiversity rather than retards it, (3) the Northern Spotted Owl is the same as the California Spotted Owl, and (4) if this land is not opened back up, a great American tradition, independent logging, will die.
First of all, many Northern Spotted Owls have been found thriving in second growth forests. Rice quotes a study by Lowell Diller, a zoologist who studied the Northern Spotted Owl for three years on 400,000 acres of land owned by the Simpson Lumber Company in northern California. In this study, Diller found population densities on Simpson Company land as high as any in old growth forests. This is relevant because Simpson Company land is 98 percent second growth forest (Rice 41). Fitzgerald mentions that Northern Spotted Owls are also found in a 50,000 acre tract of second growth timber near Yakima, Washington, and on 70,000 acres near Eugene, Oregon (Fitzgerald 92.) If this is true, perhaps the Northern Spotted Owl does not need the old growth forests to survive. In fact, perhaps the professional lobbyists, lawyers, and public relations people who work for these groups need the Spotted Owl more than the Spotted Owl needs them.
Phillip Davis, a writer for the Congressional Quarterly Weekly, makes an excellent case for the benefits of biodiversity (diversity of species and habitats). Most would agree that a wealth of knowledge is waiting to be discovered in the forests and fields. Anything that can be done to maintain a broader ecosystem is surely a benefit to all mankind. There is no argument on this point. Rather, the issue lies in finding the best way to achieve this diversity. Diller's study tells us that "a mosaic of younger and older forests yields more biodiversity than an unbroken expanse of old-growth forest" (Rice 42). If this is true, and biodiversity is the goal, perhaps our old growth forests are not as ideal as we have been led to believe.
Another point of contention is whether or not the Northern Spotted Owl is truly another subspecies, distinct and different from the California Spotted Owl. Three of the four books consulted listed only the Spotted Owl and no subspecies at all. Generally, the test to determine a separate subspecies is a blood test that shows genetic differences. No genetic variances have been found between the Northern Spotted Owl and the California Spotted Owl. In fact, the difference is one of location and not genetic makeup. The owls were separated into subspecies because the populations were thought to stay on opposite sides of the Pitt River which feeds into Lake Shasta in Northern California. Recently, however, owls have been seen within one hundred yards of the river. Since their range is two hundred miles, they seem to be a single group rather than two separate populations (Rice 42).
Whether there is one population or two really makes little difference. What is significant is that they are the same owl, genetically identical, and as such should require the same habitat. Rice states that the California Spotted Owl is thriving in the coastal mountains that stretch from south of San Francisco to San Diego County, entirely in second growth forests. This owl is also found, says Rice, "living year round in foothill canyons filled with oaks and sycamores at low elevations, miles from the higher altitude conifer forests...not the sort of place `vulnerable' owls ought to appear" (Rice 42). Given the genetic similarities, perhaps this indicates that the northern version does not require the old growth timber habitat, as many environmentalists contend.
It seems that by using well-planned campaigns, these environmental groups and their public relations people have skillfully manipulated national emotion to the point where everyone wants to save the owls. But few people know the facts. What they do know is what the environmentalists' advertising campaigns tell them in emotionally charged ads of cute little threatened owls.
The independent loggers are as much of a national symbol as the owl. They personify the values that we Americans hold dear: independence, hard work, and competitiveness. Without access to the forests that they need to survive, these men and many of the American ideals that they embody will surely have moved one step closer to becoming an endangered species.
Works Cited
Davis, Phillip "From the Shade to the Spotlight." Congressional Quarterly Weekly 1 June 1991:1439.
Fitzgerald, Randy. "The Great Spotted Owl War." Reader's Digest Nov. 1992: 91-95.
Rice, James Owen. "Where Many an Owl is Spotted." National Review 2 March 1992: 41-43.