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Show From the Utah Environmental Congress... ) LOGGING. DOLLARS 6 SENSE The Economic Case Against National Forest Logging By John Talberth 6 Karyn Moskowitz From a social and economic perspective, our National Forests are far valuable standing, growing, dying, and regenerating where they are than cut and converted into two by fours and paper products. While lumber and products are readily available from the 80% of forested land in the United more down wood States outside National Forests, clean water, recreation, wildlife and other public uses and values of immense economic benefit generally are not. The small share of the forested land base included in our National Forest system must shoulder nearly 100% of the burden of providing these uses and values. National Forests provide many social and economic contributions to the nation, simply by existing as natural ecosystems. Natural resource economists have coined the term "ecosystem services" to describe such contributions. They include important Service recently estimated that its timber sale program generated net economic benefits of only $354 million and 55,535 jobs in 1997. However, these figures are substantially overstated. They do not include the vast majority of costs created by the logging program, which are largely externalized onto communities, businesses, and individuals who benefit from forest protection. When National Forests are logged, valuable recreation, fishing, and hunting sites are destroyed. When National Forests are logged, municipalities, businesses, and domestic water users downstream must pay for filtering logging sediments out of © water supplies. Economists found that logging imposes costs in the order of $1.94 per ton on downstream water users in the Little Tennessee River basin. When National Forests are logged, increased flooding destroys prime farmland, washes out bridges National Forests provide many social and economic contributions to the nation, simply by existing as natural ecosystems... They include important functions such as flood control. purification of water, recycling of nutrients and wastes, .-pollination and natural control of pests. wastes, production of soils, carbon sequestering, pollination, and natural control of pests. They include valuable products such as plants used in manufacturing life-saving medicines, edible mushrooms, and floral greens. They include a diversity of uses such as recreation, hunting and fishing. And they include scenic, aesthetic, and cultural values that are important quality of life factors for communities adjacent to our National Forests.E d that ecosystem services provided by natural forests worldwide are worth at least $4.7 trillion per year. On National Forest lands, ecosystem service values dwarf the value of our National Forests for timber production. For instance, National Forests supply over 530.4 million acre-feet of clean water each year to municipalities, businesses, and rural residents. Economists and roads, and causes loss of life and property. After the Pacific Northwest floods of 1996, the Forest Service spent over $100 million repairing bridges and roads that were damaged from landslides largely attributable to clearcuts on unstable soils. Heavily logged National Forests are scenic eyesores, diminishing property values and thwarting the ability of communities to attract businesses and residents to enjoy ' : he Utah Envi 1 Aen bald thin Te YES! | Service accountable for its irresponsible timber sales and other anagement practices that harm our forests. I want to protect our remaining roadless forestlands so that they may be designated as wildemess in the future. 3 functions such as flood control, purification of water, recycling of nutrients and estimate that the value of this water for consumptive purposes alone is over $3.7 billion per year. This figure-does not include the value of maintaining wild fish Encl O$25 ae O$50 tecatks O$100 O$250 as ee O$500 O$____ species, recreation, or the cost savings to municipalities who have reduced filtration costs because water from National Forests is so clean. National Forests sequester over 53 million metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere each year. Economists have estimated that this function is worth nearly $3.4 billion each year. Recreation, hunting and fishing on our National Forests contribute at least $111 billion to the gross domestic product and generate 2.9 million jobs each year. These uses contribute 31.4 times more value to GDP and generate 38.1 times more jobs that the timber sale program. National Forests provide habitat for tens of thousands of wild pollinators. Researchers have estimated the potential contribution of wild pollinators to the U.S. agricultural economy to be in the order of $4-7 billion per year. In contrast, the Forest Name Address city on. ee . The Utah Environmental Congress is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofi it organizations and all contributions are tax deductible to the met. allowed by law. (801) 466-4055 http://www.uec-utah.org Please make your check payable to Ugh Environmental. Congress and send to: - Utah’ Environmental Congress 1817 South Main Street ; Suite 9 Salf Lake City, UT 84115 a : |
