The thing is, the majority of those jobs are what I call the $1.98 an hour jobs. Minimum wage. Seasonal. Of course, forestry can be seasonal also.
Who gets the park concessions? It is a big corporation from out of state. Even our National Forest campgrounds are contracted out to a firm based in Oregon.
We can't have much growth in my area. We don't have the infrastructure. We don't have a sewage facility, or a lot of ground above the flood plain. Maybe the hotels can have composting toilets, and be built on stilts.
Emptying compost toilets ought to pay more than minimum wage.
We are outnumbered by gullible folks who think hands off management is the way to go. They don't trust foresters or loggers. Until we get some of that trust back, make touchy feelie movies and cartoons about management of forests, put up billboards that have a catchy slogan, and talk about how forests can be harvested AND played in, the park idea will be seen by the majority of people as a nice thing to do.
I've about given up. I guess we'll just let 'er burn. We're outnumbered, outspent, and outgunned. It really doesn't matter which political party is in charge.
And, as far as presidents go, I did not see anything different from the previous administration, except we were supposed to hire more disabled people. Here, we are still tethered by the Northwest Forest Plan. Oh, the forest timber target has gone up, but sounds like it won't be met.
