Welcome

Welcome to greenerforests.com

At this point in time, this website has the following three goals: to educate the public on what needs to be done for the western US to have healthier forests, to hold the United States Forest Service (USFS) accountable for its actions, and to make the Petition to Change Fire Management Policy available. We plan on offering educational research and articles. We do have other responsibilities, so the development of the site is moving slowly. We encourage you to check out what we have available now, and then add us to your favorites so that you can easily check back in coming weeks and months to see what we have to offer.

Thank you for your patience, Greener Forests

If you are looking for the pictures and info regarding the Kootenai Creek Fire, go to the Kootenai Fire page.

Announcement:
(3-2-11) Thank you, to all who signed the petition and especially to those who gathered other signatures! The petition has been sent; see Petition page for more details. We will still accept more signatures, so please send them in. Thank you!

Why should you bother about the petition?

This issue affects you

This petition is important because it seeks to address an issue that impacts everyone who lives at least within 100 miles of a National Forest (specifically evergreen forests). The issue here is that the United States Forest Service (USFS) has chosen to use fire as its main tool for forest “management”. This includes both “controlled” burns and allowing forest fires to burn. This impacts everyone in the area in some way or another. The following are some of the negative impacts from the way the USFS is now operating.

Using fire to “manage” is hurting our economy

The negative economic impacts are huge, and some of them have been affecting our economy for years. One major impact is from the near absence of timber being harvested on National Forests. This industry used to bring a significant amount of money into our economy. That money used to trickle down into every area of our economy, therefore the whole economy has been affected by its significant reduction. In case you did not notice, fire management doesn’t replace timber harvesting in the economy, because the former does not produce anything. It actually becomes a drain on the economy – government spending with no economic return; economies need a foundation of natural resource harvesting. Money from timber harvested on National Forests also used to support local public schools. That is one reason why the schools are now coming to the public, asking for more tax money. The timber dollars aren’t there like they used to be, therefore property owners are paying higher taxes because the USFS is not harvesting timber like they used to.

The tourist industry and real estate values are being harmed

There are also negative economic impacts from the smoke and fire scars. The tourist industry has and is going to suffer, because fewer people are going to come to forest areas when they have either experienced or heard about forest fire smoke ruining a vacation. Each new forest fire leaves another ugly scar on the landscape; this is slowly detracting from the beauty that tourists come to enjoy, therefore negatively affecting the tourist industry. Fire scars also reduce property values. This affects the property owners most, but it also affects realtors and tax revenues. As you can see, the negative economic impact of using fire as the main tool for “managing” the forests is huge.

Fire smoke is dangerous for our health

This form of “management” also impacts the health of those who have to breathe the smoke from the fires. Some people end up in the hospital, or have to leave the area when the forest fire smoke gets thick. The smoke also affects quality of life; who wants to look at smoke clouds instead of beautiful mountains, or breathe smoke instead of fresh, clean air? Do we really want “controlled” burns that too often bring the ill effects of fire season to other times of the year?

The Forest Service’s use of fire is bad for everyone

The obvious conclusion here is this: the negative impacts from the way the USFS is now “managing” the national forests are substantial. It is not just people in the timber industry who are impacted; everyone, from a second grader to a realtor to a waitress, is impacted. And this only addresses impacts on people; the negative impacts on the environment are often devastating. We plan to address some of those impacts in the future, on this website.

We encourage you to get a copy of the Petition to Change Fire Management Policy, and help us gather signatures. Please spread the word about this website. Thank you for your time.
- Andrew Luibrand

Is this forest management?

This picture was taken up in the Kootenai Creek Fire on 11-10-09

Greener Forests is a grassroots effort. We have no ties to any organization or corporation.

© 2010 Greener Forests