What is an REIT? Acronyms should be defined--gentle hint.
The trouble is big. It has taken 30 years to get where it is now, and it ain't going to change unless the politicians take some unpopular actions.
I live in one of the small timber towns. I don't know how our last mill is going to stay afloat. It is in a great location for getting wood off Forest Service (FS) land, but not so good for trucking in wood off private and state lands. Most, heck, almost all their logs now come from state and private lands.
That's 30 years of indoctrination of kids into the enviro movement. Weyco used to leave pamphlets about forest management at the local environmental center/camp. It is a former Job Corps place and now is run by the state school principals. I guess the pamphlets were thrown out by the teachers, who labeled it propoganda. They couldn't keep a supply safe and gave up.
The teachers, movies, cartoons, etc. are against "chopping" down trees. The politicians need their votes to win, not the timber towns. The FS has fewer folks working for it and most are planners, not implementers. Planning is where the work is. Planning takes up most of the time. Meanwhile management now consists of those former planners. There has only been one forester appointed chief since the late 80s or early 90s.
She didn't go over too well with her 'ologist employees.
Yup, I'd change the name to the Forest Biology Service. That's what it is. Most of the public can't tell the difference between the FS and Park Service.
Nope, don't give it over to one of those acronyms. I still want to be free to wander about without having to get a permit. Of course, we do have to get a permit if we go into the wilderness. Our local wildernesses are free though. There is only one, the Alpine Lakes, that you must pay in order to get into a lottery, to get a permit, which you must then pay more for. I don't even try.
I like the idea of merging it with the BLM (Bureau of Land Management). Might as well. We'd save tax money by doing away with more management. They pay their employees a bit more too!
I survived quite a few "downsizing" events. What I saw was if you want your job saved, you'd best get on a downsizing planning committee.
Employees are very frustrated with some of the cost saving measures which actually cost more and use up their time. The computer is the big culprit. Every district used to have a computer expert who could work with you in a timely manner and get your machine going again. Now, you must phone a company in Colorado. They put some kid on the line, who suggests the well known procedures, like "Did you reboot your computer?" Maybe, after an hour, they might fix it over the phone. But usually, a ticket number is assigned and you must try to connect with an in house employee, who is a former district computer person, and set up an appointment for them to either talk you through it on the phone, or come out and fix it. The contractor gets paid either way. I guess that is another form of welfare. Plus, if you are are one of the few employees who goes out to the woods to work, it can be darn hard to get a time scheduled to get things fixed. So add in the hours of your time that had to be spent waiting and on the phone, and it can get pretty spendy.
It took 30 years to get to this stage. If folks cared, they should have started fighting the process a bit earlier.
