IN RESPONSE:
BILL: I, like you, am a hunter. I also fish and trap. I have land in Alabama and Missouri, and I manage it much as you would, with periodic, patchy timber harvest. I have a BS in Forestry Resource Management and an MS in Forest Biology. What you are arguing for, more patchy harvests on the National Forests, has benefits ”more deer and turkeys” but it also has costs associated with this style of management. Several species that adapted to large undisturbed tracts of land have been in a downward spiral. The National Forest provides some of the last tracts of mature, relatively intact forest across much of our country. If we do what you advocate, we benefit in the small picture more deer and turkey right here and now. In the big picture, we probably will push several threatened and endangered species over the edge. [Mark Hainds, The Longleaf Alliance, Alabama]

News notes are courtesy of Southern Forests Network News Notes
www.southernsustainableforests.org