Dear Editor:
How do you like the new air quality, courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service? They are actually saving us money since we dont have to drive to the forest campground to smell smoky. Our air quality has been sent up here from the wilderness and roadless areas of New Mexico and Arizona. Those areas are not managed for resources and have little to no access, so they have tremendous wildfire potential, as we see and know.
Why has the Forest Service and BLM decided the highest and best use of the forest lands and resources is to burn them up? It is quite interesting that the feds regulate our air quality, but they continuously set the stage for massive wildfires to produce worse air quality in one week than we can produce in 10 years. Odd, isnt it? Did you know that the BLM and Forest Service want to add more of our public lands to the non-managed list (roadless and wilderness), resulting in less access, less beneficial use, more fires and more smoke, more bad air quality, less water, more erosion? Its true!
Whatever happened to the concept of using our resources for beneficial use, improving the watersheds, reducing fires, improving wildlife habitat and improving vegetative growth? I guess it disappeared along with common sense in Washington.
Dexter Gill
Lewis