Thank you, to all those in our communities employed to serve the public good. We are blessed in this country that for the last 150 years, National Forests (and other public lands) have been available to every citizen - regardless of worldview - as a public good: to hunt, to fish, to gather huckleberries and mushrooms, to bike, to drive, to walk as we please. National Forests are not a business, and never have been. You cannot buy a share of a National Forest, and their operation will probably never result in net monetary profit. We are not consumers of National Forests. We are citizens: of the natural world, of our country, of our communities. As citizens, we have a responsibility to care for each other and the land. We have a responsibility to ensure that our children, grandchildren, neighbors, friends, and even those we dislike have the opportunity to enjoy and continue the care of these mountains we call home. This responsibility and duty of ensuring the continuation of this particular public good for future generations cannot be deemed successful or unsuccessful based on today’s return on investment. This would be akin to evaluating the success of a high school in educating youth by how much money ninth-graders make in their after-school jobs. Forests do not operate on a human time-scale; judgement of today’s local land managers based on today’s local forest conditions is an inaccurate method of assessment, and, arguably, should be reserved for those at the top of the hierarchy making wide-reaching, uninformed decisions.
My aim in writing this letter is not to make a political statement, but to provide an alternative view than that often printed in this newspaper. The effects of recent layoffs and other decisions will be felt by every member of this community in some form. Our public lands and our community will not be the better for it.
Riley Kies, New Meadows, Idaho
