Economic Value of Public Forests
In 1991, the Department of Economic and Employment Security for Maryland did an analysis of the funds derived from the Savage River State Forest. They determined that four times as much money comes from recreational activities as logging.
The money coming from recreational activities flows to businesses like restaurants, gas stations, and hotels. Since it does not flow directly to DNR or county governments, as do the logging revenues, this important source of economic funding is often discounted. DNR is not held accountable for the degradation that happens to natural resources from logging activities. This unaccountability allows logging to continue unabated while public wishes are ignored.
Logging Public Lands
As long as the public continues to demand wood products, there will be a need to log forests. However, the requirement for wood products does not have to include logging public forests. This demand could be satisfied by logging only private lands where 85% of the timber is growing.
The public only owns 15% of the forests in Maryland, and these lands have many uses other than producing wood fiber. They are valued for recreational uses, hunting, fishing, and protection of biodiversity and natural resources.
Certification of Sustainable Logging Practices
The public should be deeply involved (to a much greater extent than they are today) in any decision on whether public forests are to be logged. If the public decides logging public lands is in their best interest, then only the highest standards for sustainable logging should be allowed. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) sets the highest standards available, and is the only certification program that should be used with public land. FSC is supported by many large environmental groups such as Greenpeace and the Sierra Club. FSC certification separates the people setting the standards from the people requesting and approving certification of logging practices. This guarantees a more honest and independent program of certification.
There are several other certification programs that have evolved as competition to FSC. Many such programs were developed by the forest industry itself, and appear to place few restrictions on logging practices. One such program is the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). It allows logging of old growth forests, lets natural forest be replaced with industrial tree plantations, allows routine use of damaging herbicides, and lacks strong and consistent protection for wildlife and endangered species.
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