Land Mismanagement

I don’t get it. The Bureau of Land Management partners with local entities and spends millions of dollars creating public recreation sites. They then proceed to use outdated, industry-friendly management practices that compromise them.

In the past couple of years, miles of the Row River bike trail have been clearcut, and a third of the Thurston Hills have been slated for the same fate.

Not only are these barren hills painful to look at, they are an affront to ecosystem and public health. Waterways adjacent to clearcuts have drastically reduced flows, wildfires are more destructive and the glyphosate in aerial spraying was recently found by a jury to be linked to a man’s cancer.

Lane County rates sixth in Oregon concerning rates of cancer among the population, and the role of these chemicals should not be overlooked.

Get the word out to BLM and our public officials that there are better ways to manage these important places. Selective logging practices such as thinning and more modern ways to manage unwanted growth would be win-win for everybody.

Kerstin Britz

Dorena