WHEN English Captain George Vancouver entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca in May 1792, he did so with the hope of discovering an extensive "Mediterranean ocean" thought to exist somewhere in the northern Pacific. What he discovered was a country that "exhibited everything that bounteous nature could be expected to draw into one point of view." The Olympic Peninsula in Western Washington is home to one of the world's most diverse ecosystems and encompasses miles of alpine meadows, temperate rainforests, green river valleys and ancient coastline.
Today, it is best known for Olympic National Park, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve, as well as the Hoh, Queets and Quinault temperate rainforests. To others, the Olympic Peninsula also can be recognized for its place in Stephanie Meyer's bestselling book and movie series, "Twilight." Vampires sweep through grand forests of giant trees outside the town of Forks, and werewolves bathe in the ocean waters of La Push beach. Yet, to those who have traveled far west to the Washington coast, the natural beauty extolled by early explorers and more recently in Stephanie Meyer's novels has faded, overpowered by a shocking and widespread destruction. At the center of this destruction is one of America's most lucrative and devastating enterprises - the timber industry.
Washington, like other states across the nation, has been made the victim of global lumber companies that plunder irreplaceable natural resources in the name of profit. As a result, once-lush forests of ancient Douglas-firs, Sitka spruces and red cedars have been reduced to expansive graveyards of trees that stretch across the state. These barren fields of stumps are only rivaled by the legions of bald-headed mountains that stretch across the skyline.
Farther along the ancient coastline, heaps of drift logs pile high on the Pacific beaches, and even swimming is forbidden due to floating timber. Along Highway 101 - which circles the peninsula - entire towns literally have sold out to logging companies, which devastate the natural scenery and erode local tourism at great expense to local economies. The sight is almost impossible to imagine - and certainly not mentioned in tour books - unless you are unfortunate enough to witness firsthand the state-wide destruction.
Yet logging continues unchecked in the Olympic Peninsula and throughout the United States. Logging is lucrative and also firmly rooted in U.S. history. It has been a part of the American story since the early 1600s, when lumber was a major part of the colonial economies. By the early 1800s, Bangor, Maine had become the heart of the world's lumber industry with its designation as the world's largest lumber shipping port. But by the mid-1800s, American lumbermen had exhausted the New England woods, and the Homestead Act of 1862 triggered a westward movement for "green gold" that brought settlers to the Great Lakes and the West Coast regions. From folktale heroes such as Paul Bunyan to the modern-day lumberjacks of the History Channel's "Ax Men," loggers often have been eulogized for their strength and ability to destroy.
The reality is far more tragic. In Washington and across the country, commercial lumber companies buy out lands held by non-federal entities - state and municipal governments, private businesses and citizens - and use irresponsible and unregulated logging techniques to fell trees. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that of the 736.7 million acres of forest land in the United States, two-thirds - or about 490 million acres - is categorized as timberlands, which are forest lands used in the production of commercial timber products. Unsound practices such as clear cutting - a process by which all trees within a given area simultaneously are cut down - often involve limited or nonexistent replanting. Thus, regrowth is impossible and old growth forests are forever destroyed. The federal government promises action, but little has been done: Lumber is far too profitable. According to the EPA, the United States currently is the world leader in production and consumption of lumber products, accounting for one-fourth of world lumber.
Advocates of logging further argue that timber-dependent communities rely on the lumber industry for job creation, but the romantic idea of the thriving lumber town is now a distant memory. A weakened economy, closing lumber mills and rising unemployment have left many of these towns in dire straits. For example, the city of Aberdeen in Grays Harbor County, Washington is a large lumber city owned and operated by Weyerhaeuser, one of the largest timber companies in the world. In 2009, Weyerhaeuser permanently closed two mills in Aberdeen, wreaking further havoc on an already struggling city whose natural scenery has been completely devastated by the felling of trees.
In the words of the American naturalist and conservationist John Muir, "Any fool can destroy trees. They cannot run away; and if they could, they would still be destroyed." Destroying our ancient American forests is effortless, but restoring them is close to impossible. Our forests need to be protected before all that remains is barren fields of stumps.
Ashley Chappo's column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at a.chappo@cavalierdaily.com.
Read More
EDITORIAL: Scapegoating students will not stop hazing
By Editorial Board | 2 days agoInstead of retroactively responding to extreme hazing allegations, we, and especially the University, must begin asking more probing questions about the role of fraternal organizations on Grounds.
EDITORIAL: Celebrating and reflecting on The Cavalier Daily’s independence
By Editorial Board | April 18, 2024Our independence grants us the ability to ask the hard questions and to say what University representatives cannot.
ARRAS: U.Va. must revise the Sexual Assault Prevention Training module
By Aoife Arras | April 17, 2024In addition to its failures in interactivity, the module lacks details specific to the University and discusses key concepts in universal terms.
