LETTER: Logging loss is Democrat victory

“And in 25 years you will see the most destructive forest fires in history.”

So said a prescient Forest Service supervisor to our Rotary group 25 years ago when talking about the lack of logging in our forests. With the shutdown of the timber harvest come forest fires, more intense in size and number. Fire suppression, now 50 percent of the Forest Service budget, builds up more fuel, leading to greater expense for fire suppression in the future. This could be alleviated by responsible logging.

The job losses reported are vastly understated since at the time of mill closure nearly 80 percent of their employees have already been laid off. The number of direct lumber job losses is nearer to 15,000.  Democrats have been exceptionally effective. To them belongs the credit.

The shutdown of logging is directly related to Democrat policies at the federal level. And radical eco-terrorist groups such as the “Friends of the Wild Swan” use lawsuits and Obama’s out-of-control EPA to stop logging, putting their fingers around the necks of lumber companies and squeezing until they get the thrill of killing them. Reapplying Brian Schweitzer’s colorful language, our “bat-crap crazy” governor, Bullock, has gleefully presided over thousands of job losses in Eastern Montana. And the “Obama” man, Jon Tester, whose wilderness bill was made to destroy our logging industry and restrict access must be proud of a job well done.

The eco-terrorists and Bullock are no doubt joining Tester in a fat-rippling jig of celebration. As for those who lost jobs? Put on a sombrero and say “no hablo Ingles” and deny citizenship. You’ll be rich. Liberal opinion about your loss of lumber jobs in Montana is, to them, acceptable collateral damage! Because what difference, at this point, does it make to them? “Mission Accomplished!” This has been the Democratic objective. —Max Agather, Kalispell