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Show PUBLIC FORUM LETTERS TO THE EDITOR What is your opinion? The Express welcomes letters from its readers concerning any subject pertinent to the Uintah Basin. There are no restrictions re-strictions as to contents, II not libelous or vindictive vin-dictive and of reasonable length. Letters must be submitted exclusively to the Express and bear the writer's full name, signature, phone number and address. The name or name of those submitting letters must appear on all published letters. All letters are subject to condensation. con-densation. Letters express the opinion of the writer and are not necessarily the opinion of the Express Editor. Endangered Dear Editor, In two recent editorials, the Vernal Express has smeared the Endangered Species Act with a broad brush. Since it would take more space than I have to paint an accurate picture of the act, I'll just bring out a few details that will show that the newspaper's editorial failed to present even an accurate sketch of the issues involved with this legislation and completely colored col-ored over its merits. The outrage most commonly cited by opponents of endangered species (and brought up by the Express) is the supposed blocking of construction construc-tion of the Tellico Dam by a rare little lit-tle fish called the snail darter. The reality of this situation did not involve in-volve jobs v. a runaway agency that could not more stop building dams than an egg suckin' dawg can stay out of a henhouse. The Tennessee Valley Authority claimed that the dam would provide industry and jobs. However, there were 22 other reservoirs within a 100-mile radius of the Tellico site and many had unused industrial sites on their banks. The reservoir flooded 16,000 acres of good farmland, farm-land, in Cherokee towns including the former capital, Tanasi, and 22,000 more acres were condemned to build it The Republican Governor opposed the dam, as did the Farm Bureau, the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, and many other groups. The fact that the dam could also kill off an endangered species provided the last hope the people of the area had to try to stop the dam; ultimately, Congress allowed al-lowed it to be built anyway. Years after it was built only one , I" Models at various stages of development Loan qualification on premises Prices from $70's to $90's. Subcontractors: Dee Jay Chivers Electrical Zan Bowden Dry wall Christensen's Heating Darel Colton - Masonry Kenny Lind Roofing Economy Flooring & Snyders Carpet industrial site was operating along the reservoirs banks, and it generated generat-ed a fraction of the revenue that the flooded farmland had. This isn't a story of the Endangered Species Act destroying an economy. Ironically, the ESA could have saved the area. Today's big controversy over endangered en-dangered species is the supposed destruction of the northwest's logging log-ging industry by the northern spotted spot-ted owl. In reality, the owl is being blamed to turn attention away from the timber industry's betrayal of its own workers. What's really hurting jobs in the Pacific Northwest is not an owl, but overcutting, automation, competition from mills in the southwest, south-west, and exports of raw wood instead in-stead of finished products. Overcutting is the critical factor. For decades, the timber industry claimed that since trees are a renewable renew-able resource that were being harvested har-vested for sustained yields, lumber-based lumber-based economies would always provide pro-vide steady jobs. During this period, most of the public and private tim-berlands tim-berlands in the northwest were clcarcut and converted from natural forest to monoculture tree farms, and as long as they were then cut at the same rate that the harvested areas ar-eas were replanted and regrown, there would be continuous employment. employ-ment. However, lumber companies have consistently overcut, guaranteeing that there would eventually be a timber shortage. The fact is that if the industry cuts for sustained yields, it doesn't need to destroy the few remaining virgin forests. Insistence on cutting those forests is a de facto admission that the industry indus-try is jeopardizing jobs by cutting more than the law and common sense allows it to. Wiping out the last remaining real forest would destroy the northwest's best salmon streams, remove important impor-tant winter thermal cover for elk, and decimate yew tree populations, among many other things. This would hurt northwest fishing fleets, tourism and the recently discovered prospects for fighting breast cancer with taxol from yew bark (which grows in old growth forests). If these stands are cut, logging jobs will still disappear because the industry in-dustry will still have to reduce their cut to sustainable levels. Better to impose responsibility on them now New Home ConstmctlM Quality built homes by Mike Maguire Saturday, April 11 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 1605 South 1100 West Vernal mm J UCurtis Jaussi Aspen Brook Realty, Inc. and save the natural forests for their other values. If the presence of an endangered owl forces such common com-mon sense, then the ESA will have vindicated itself again. The Endangered Species Act requires re-quires a balance between respect for nature and shortsighted exploitation, by stating that when a human activity activi-ty drastically affects another species it's time to take another look at that activity. The act does allow economic eco-nomic considerations to affect species' recovery plans. It also allows al-lows a group of high ranking administration ad-ministration officials to override the ESA when they feel it necessary. Furthermore, according to US Fish and Wildlife Service statistics you wouldn't even need a complete finger fin-ger to count the percentage of controversial con-troversial projects stopped by the ESA. People who oppose the ESA aren't looking for balance, they're asking for carte blanche to do whatever what-ever they want to the web of life that we are a strand of. The Endangered Species Act reminds re-minds us of the damage we can do and encourages responsible use of the land, instead of taking a rape and run approach to the earth, and letting future generations wonder why we didn't leave intact biological biologi-cal systems to protect and sustain them. Exercising the restraint it encourages en-courages and making an effort to be part of the earth's cycles instead of pretending that we are above them, would benefit us all. Those who push for getting rid of such government govern-ment regulation fail to remind us that those regulations were written only after their own selfish abuse of earth resulted in things like greenhouse green-house gases fouling the air, unregulated unregu-lated toxic waste seeping into groundwater and so forth. The main problem with the ESA is that habitat is not being protected, and since it's much more difficult to recreate than to destroy, a lot of money and time is being spent to fix problems that shouldn't have been allowed to develop in the first place. True multiple use of public lands would allow ranching in one place, drilling in another, and habitat habi-tat protection in still another. When government land managers start protecting habitat, we won't have so many species being driven to extinction ex-tinction and the problems the recent editorial mentioned (many of which r-iJPSfil ' Construction 3480 W 1600 789-7555 were, as pointed out, drastically overblown) won't be so pressing. As a wise land manager, Aldo Leopold, once said, the first principle princi-ple of intelligent tinkering is lo keep all the parts. That's a good lesson to keep in mind. PAUL WAKE Vernal BASIN SPORTS Your Outdoor Sports Store SPRING FEVER OUTDOOR SALE SILVER TAB Retro Short Every Dayl 99 "Air Right Low" Mens reg. 86M 4521. 4985. 4986 Basketball "Air Flight Low" Mens High Top 99 reg. 9700 Basketball 4495 L3J29 65 GIMMIEI xO Shorts fao qyOOff women's Apparrei Reebok US I Reebok HI OMNI Zone Pump Reverse Jam IT'S NOT JUST A TRAMPOLINE - IT'S A JUMPKING! 7 TRAMPOLINES M t - i'i . Vernal it)nti Utah weekly crop report An average of 6.1. days were suitable suit-able for field work in Utah during the week ending April 3, according to the Agricultural Statistics Service. Soil Moisture was 33 percent short, 63 percent adequate and 4 percent surplus. Winter wheat crop condition was 79 percent good and 21 percent adequate. Spring wheat TPs O.P. Speedo, Jimmy'z I Dig, Columbia, Side Out, Nike Xlise "Air Challenger" Mens reg. 71-Tennis 71-Tennis "Presence" Mens reg. 7! Cross Training Y n o 1 T'tr Wednesday, April 8, 1992 3 was 78 percent planted compared with 51 percent last year. Barley and oats were 63 and 31 percent planted, respectively. Winter wheat freeze damage was reported to be mostly light. Fruit trees were reported to be about two weeks ahead of normal due to early spring weather. Spring calving was 68 percent complete. Lambing in farm and range flocks was 65 and 21 percent complete respectively, nearly the same as last year. i Wrangler Cool Walkers Denim, Khaki, Loden Every Day! Most popular running shoe "Pegaus" large group Mens & Womens 49 99 reg. 67-Running 67-Running "Air Conditioner" Womens 99 reg. 5700 Aerobic Jeans i0 r0 Off Starting at 24" in-line skate everyday 69" J4' ROUttd Trampoline The Original "JUMPKING a1099 Not An Imitation o i 14' High Strength Uv l uaivanneu oicci BfPj Frame wpolymer cover 12' Super Heavy Duty, Polyproplene Permatron Jumping Surface v 36" Frame Height 1 104 812 Heavy ? Duty Galvanized Steel Rings, Safety 34" Closed Cell, Foam Pad Included 48 Ethics 1 1 |