Forest Service Slashes Estimated Value Of NF Recreation By 90%

[hatrack]

A new U.S. Forest Service assessment that slashes the estimated value of recreation in national forests by 90 percent will have little bearing on the management of California's federal lands, an agency official said Tuesday. The new evaluation by the Bush administration cuts the estimated value of recreation in national forests from $111 billion to $11 billion, leading some environmentalists to warn that the study could be used to justify increased logging.

Matt Mathes, a spokesman for the service's California region, said accelerated timber harvesting is improbable for the state's 18 national forests, which cover 20 million acres. "I doubt there will be any change at all," he said. "Recreation is very important to us. We only cut trees as part of our hazardous fuel reduction program.'' During the Clinton administration, the Forest Service estimated that recreation ultimately would contribute about $111 billion to the nation's gross domestic product. That determination led to a push within the federal government to reduce logging and other activities associated with resource extraction on federal lands and emphasize hunting, fishing, wildlife watching and other recreational pursuits.

Administration officials say the new assessment is based on refined data. They add that recreation will continue to receive significant attention from national forest managers. Recreation "is just as valuable to us today as it was 10 years ago," said Joel Holtrop, the deputy chief of the national forest system. "We just have a better way of calculating it. We recognize recreation activity is an important program to the American people."

EDIT

Environmentalists said the new estimates are worrisome. Under the Clinton era assessment, recreation accounted for 85 percent of the national forest system's contribution to the gross domestic product, compared with resource extraction's 11 percent. But under the new formula, recreation represents only 59 percent. Those lower figures, environmentalists say, could be used as a pretext to accelerate logging and mining in national forests as a way of making them pay their fair share to the federal coffers. "Would I expect anything different from the Bush administration? No," said Michael Francis, who directs the national forest program at the Wilderness Society. "They will cook the books for whatever they want."

EDIT

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/17/MNGS8E8RSU1.DTL

Gosh, I wonder why the Bush Administration would do a thing like that? :puke:

[maxsolomon]

1. everything must produce revenue

or it has no use. the tyranny of utility.

[Viking12]

2. I wonder if this couldn't somehow be used against "wise-users"

that often assert the economic value of destructive ATVs & other off-road vehicles.

What we need is an accurate and comprehnsive study* the economic value of the ecological services rendered by wilderness areas.


*(this would disqualify the Bush Admin from conducting such a study)

[H5N1]

3. once again, bush does the unbelievable

[phantom power]

4. "We just have a better way of calculating it."

Sure ya do, Joel. Sure ya do.

Christ, you can just see these BushCo tools sitting in the back room, picking out numbers. "Does 20 billion reduce the value of recreation sufficiently to please our corporate masters? No? How about 11 billion? That's an easy edit! We just remove the first '1' from '111'"

For the first time ever, I cannot stop myself from hurling...
:puke: