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Show PAGE 12 THE ZEPHYROCTOBER 89 1 Where It Belongs Putting Blame a lesson in civics byT.L. Keng Howards recent story about multiple use upset me a little because he blamed this apparently faceless agency for a problem. He did not blame the administrators of the nice Forest Service Employees (the Tom and Tony he mentioned) but the "agency and powers that be." Lets talk about agencies and the Forest Service specifically. I love to talk about the Forest Service because I work for them. The American Heritage Dictionary defines agency as a business or service authorized to act for others. In the Federal government, who are these others? The taxpayers? Good guess, but not exactly. You see, we have a representative form of government Actually, Congress and the Presidential arm (sometimes referred to as the administration) are supposed to act for the taxpayers. Federal agencies act for Congress and the administrator. Well, some people pay more taxes than others which means they have a bigger Interest In what congress and the administration have the agencies (who are acting for congress and the president) do. These big taxpayers figure that if these agencies are going to use their taxpayer dollars, they might as well use them so that the big taxpayers get the biggest bang for the buck. They apply what Is commonly referred to as "political pressure. But not only do rich taxpayers lobby, people who do not have a lot of money and who want things, join together and pool their voting power and taxpaying contributions. These folks also lobby and apply political pressure. So, when the Toms and Tonys of the Forest Service tell the administration what they would like to do, based on the agencys mission and what would be the best Sometimes the thing for mother earth, it goes through the administration. administration gives these guys unofficial political pressure before it gets to this point Depending on the land ethic of the administration and the political pressure applied by loud taxpayer lobbyists and big taxpayers, the administration tweaks and plays with the agency employee's numbers, which equal what the Toms and Tonys want to do. Unfortunately, the Toms and Tonys work for these guys. They like their jobs and sometimes even get to do good stuff despite the administration. So, they testify to Congress that they support the administrations tweaked and twisted budget and targets. Congress has some of these loud taxpayer groups and big taxpayers, who also Influence them. Congress also has constituents who also call, write and threaten to dethrone them if they dont change, water down, reject or even support the administrations tweaked and twisted picture of what the Toms and Tonys said in the first place. Well, after this picture of what the Toms and Tonys said gets done, you can imagine it is transformed from a Van Goch to a stick drawing. In areas that have special interests, such as Oregon does for timber, the timber companies and the constituents who work for the timber companies put political pressure on the local representatives and senators. They may even have some friends in the administration and give them la holler too. Congressmen and Senators then practice an age old tradition called bartering votes, to reduce the political pressure. They ask other congressmen and senators whose constituents have no interest In timber cutting In Oregon to vote yea on their bill. In return they will vote yea or nay for another bill that has absolutely nothing to do with their constituents and lobbyists in the future. Meanwhile, back at the Forest the Toms and Tonys try to figure out how to still meet their agencys objectives without hurting the earth. They relish the times when the loud taxpayers, congress, the administration and the constituents agree with them on the best management. If all these special interest groups still do not get their way or the agency is directed to do something that the special interests or the public do not like, they can apply direct pressure on the agency by appealing them on the process of writing environmental assessments or impact statements, which are required by law. By the way, the loud taxpayer groups are sometimes called environmental groups. While the timber companies are driven by profit, some environmental groups are driven by a desire for more wilderness. Sometimes environmental groups fight a timber sale or mining operation attacking the disclosures In the environmental analysis, when the real reason is that such projects prevent areas from being named wilderness. Bill Like it or not, use of the National Forest for production of timber, recreation, wildlife, range, and water is the job congress gives the Forest Service. It is an important mission. Sometimes cutting timber and the other uses on the National Forest are good for the "heavily influenced by man environment It can be done so that it benefits both man and the environment When people with special Interest both on the wilderness side and the development side pressure congress, bad resource decisions can be made in either direction. True Family Restaurant OPEN 6 a.m. -- 10 p.m. 259-835- rider attached to an unrelated Interior Department appropriations bill recently cut 2 to 3 billion board feet In Spotted gave the Forest Service marching orders to Owl habitat Great job of lobbying dont you think? In Jackson, Wyoming environmentalists fought timber sales on Ditch Creek a few years ago. Last year, a fire did a much more thorough job than the Forest Service ever dreamed possible. It burned 2500 acres, caused massive erosion and timber sale would have destroyed valuable wildlife habitat The originally planned reduced have would the fuel loading caused no significant damage and probably it a still below Is cost timber sale so that the fire would have been a lot smaller. if it can save the government millions in future firefighting efforts? Notice all of these groups blame the faceless agency and "powers that be for their woes. None of them are willing to admit that special interests, congress and Uikfif If Ha A1 TtlOtf OPA all Iaa kneti i JI il.A fAAAUaa playing the political pressure game. Im using a pen name by the way, because according to the Hatch Act (another direction from Congress) federal employees cannot adversely affect the confidence of the public in the integrity of the Government Scary isnt it? . A - Editors Note: The writer is a employee of the U. S. Forest management-lev- el Service in Colorado. dont like cattle, eat them dontConnie Blaine if you by there's anything more obnoxious than cows and the things they do to the tree buggers do about it's land, got to be the complaining that many beef-eati- ng B.LM. B.LM. as "them" and the cows and the They see the cattlemen and backpackers and conservationists as "us". Meanwhile, they keep on chowlng down on their burgers and steaks. There's an obvious connection, it seems to me, between eating beef and having to put up with the blight of cattle on public land. Its easv, and hot ' the altogether wrong, to blame the B.LM. for the damage cows do, but face it cows wouldn't be out there fouling the pools, attracting biting flies and defoliating our public lands if people didn't eat so much beef. The B.LM., (called the Bureau of Livestock and Mining by some) has served the needs of cattlemen, many think, to the exclusion of other uses of the land. While "multiple use" is technically how the land is managed, the destruction and nuisance cattle create effectively keep other users away. Complaining to the B.LM. has had little, if any, effecL Overgrazing continues to be a serious threat to the Integrity of western lands. Chaining (where the B.LM. rips up pinon and juniper forests with a large anchor chain to provide the cattlemen with more and better grazing land) destroys foe natural habitat of wildlife and allows noxious plants, like Russian Thistle (tumbleweeds) to gain a foothold and flourish. Despite years of protests, foe B.LM. ' continues chaining. So heres my point: You can write letters, attend hearings and complain to foe B.LM. all you want, but if you really want to impact grazing on public land, stop eating beef. There are plenty of other reasons to stop eating beef. Here are some facts about foe meat Industry in foe U.S.: If . 1 -- More than a billion people could be fed by foe grain and soybeans eaten by U.S. livestock. --Twenty vegetarians could be fed on foe land needed to feed one meat-eati- ng person. -- Sixteen pounds of grain and soybeans are needed to produce one pound of feedlot beef. -- 90 of protein is wasted by cycling grain through livestock. -- Livestock production uses more than half of all water used for all purposes In foe United States. 2500 gallons of water are needed to produce i pound of meat. -- If foe cost of water used by foe meat Industry was not subsidized by foe U.S. taxpayers, hamburger would cost $35.00 per pound. -- 55 of all pesticide residues In foe U.S. diet are In meaL -- Only 11 of pesticide residues in foe U.S. diet come from vegetables, fruits and grains. . --The American male has a 50 chance of dying from a average meat-eati- ng heart attack. : .. --The average vegetarian male has only a 4 risk of death from heart attack. wii uiv 7 muusiry ir bii oi us who lavur grazing (and the power of foe beef Industry) would simply stop eating beef I Tnlnk of the benefits to your own health, to the land, and to foe whole country from UW then N? to ment!on that yu mLU about all those cows out a clear conscience knowing youre nocomplain longer part of the problem. owys and the bad guys. The "enemy Is not the ma.!!er B.LM. or foe cattlemen, It s us, and our craving for beef. mi siting 2 2?' COME IN FOR THE BEST HOME COOKED MEALS 1075 So. Hwy 191 M Try Our Bucket of Chicken Colonel Whats-His-FaCould Learn From ce US 9d N?w Amerlffi (1987). Robbins, Stillpoint Publishing, Walpole, NH, $10.95. Copyright 1987 by John |