News article 1

      Hello everyone.  I found a link to an article in the E-forester(put out by SAF), to a paper in Spokane, WA.  The article caught my eye because it is titled, "Logging would avert fire, Otter said".  Governer Butch Otter went before congress with the warning that Idaho was at a risk of wildfires that would rival the 1910's "Big Burn".  Otter asked of congress, to allow Federal timberlands in Idaho be managed by the state.  Otter's argument is that trees that emerged after the 1910 fire, are at the end of their natural life.  This means alot of fuel to set the stage for another disaster. 
     Bill Higgins, resource manager for one of the larger timber companies in Idaho, agreed that logging near developed areas is helpful.  Over the last fifty years, fire suppression and lack of thinning by timber operations have increased the risk of a big uncontrolled fire.  Enviromental groups  and timber groups are all admiting that there is a risk, but state that the federal goverment is working with them, and that the state may have different agendas.  http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/feb/29/logging-would-avert-fire-otter-says/