Idaho Statesman
Before going on a tour hosted by the Idaho Forest Products Commission last month, my general attitude about logging was that it is a “necessary evil.” We all live in houses, we all use wood and forest products for various things, so we need logging, whether we like it or not. So we need to figure out how to let these “greedy” companies log as efficiently as possible without letting them run roughshod over the land and destroy it.
By the end of our tour last month, I came away with a more nuanced understanding, particularly on two key points.
Finally, the other big takeaway for me was the model for management that the state of Idaho provides.
The state of Idaho, because it has a different mandate for the use of state land, treats state forested land differently from the way the federal government treats federal lands.
David Groeschl, Idaho state forester and deputy director of forestry and fire with the Idaho Department of Lands, said the state is able to maximize the use of state land because it’s in the state’s constitutional mandate to “secure the maximum long-term financial return,” according to the original agreement granting land to the state at statehood.