I call it getting crushed. Or, being a Dilbert fan, Getting Crushed By The Fist Of Doom. Not many foresters are hired by the Forest Service anymore. They got rid of a whole slough of them, along with engineers in what I call The Timber Purge in the 1990s. That's part of the problem. Then 'ologists were hired in their place. Having been around and struggling to keep a job at that time, one saw and heard the 'ologists proudly saying, "We are scientists." They are now in charge. You won't see many District Rangers who have a Forestry education in the Forest Service anymore.
Anyway, an enthusiastic young forester comes in, and will soon be crushed as he/she finds out that what they learned in college is not the way the FS manages forests. Courts, and the agenda of the enviro industry say what kind of management will be done out here.
Wisconsin? The district there was like going back in time. Timber sales were put up. The Timber Shop had the most employees. The employees worked together to get timber put up for sale. It was a hard working, efficiently run, successful place.
There was one appeal during my brief time there, and the District Ranger--the best I've ever been around, made a decision and appeased the appealers. And, got in trouble for it. He got chewed out by the folks in Milwaukee and DC for daring to make a decision without consulting them.
He was one of the few rangers who left the office on his own, went out with us employees, and could still be on a fire crew. A young guy who was like the old style rangers.
Anyway, because Region 6, Warshington and Oregon were not cutting as much, the Wisconsin Forest had the second highest harvest in the US, and was becoming a target by enviro groups. That ranger left, I think he was crushed, and a new one was hired. I do not know how they are doing now.
I like Madhatte's spirit, but the trouble with organizing the timber industry is, they don't have time. Most loggers are busy working long days. If they don't they may lose their business. I still get angry when I read that the local community is listened to. I guess they mean Portland and Vancouver for us. That is 2 or more hours away from here--120 miles.
By the way, I heard--was it Mike Melcher? The logger mentioned in that article, give a talk at an AOL convention. AOL is the Association of Oregon Loggers. The Forest Service was going the Stewardship route at that time, and I had heard FS expert after expert try to explain Stewardship. I never understood them. He explained the concept beautifully--simple without all the jargon, and the CFL lightbulb in my brain finally got a bit brighter and I had an AHA! moment.
That news article was well written. No mention of "Chopping Down" trees. It actually seemed unbiased. Imagine that!
