Letters: Hope we can all work as oneto protect our enviroment

As a newcomer to this area (my husband and I moved to Crescent City mid-July), I was disheartened to read only negative responses to Derrick Jensen's Aug. 28 opinion piece ("Logging will not make forests safer") in which he questioned state Sen. Sam Aanestad's motives for promoting increased logging. Jensen, a world-respected author, used supporting literature from reports to Congress and from the Government Accounting Office to outline a clear argument for not cutting old growth forests and for the need to practically address the documented causes of catastrophic forest fires.

However, in one of the two letters published Aug. 30 in response, the writer used jargon such as "fuel treatment" in an attempt to support his argument that forest thinning is good. At one point he stated that "old growth redwoods" are the only trees that are fire-resistant — something he agreed with Jensen on and apparently didn't realize. I could find no other documentation that remotely convinced me that this writer had a legitimate argument. The other writer seemed concerned denigrating "environmental agendas."

One of the main reasons we moved here is to enjoy the beauty of these ancient redwood forests that grow so close to the dramatic Pacific. I had originally seen this area about 30 years ago. Returning now, I have been shocked to see how much of the forests have disappeared over this relatively short time and greatly fear that a corporation or some other entity that values money over nature will find excuses to cut even more of these forests.

Unfortunately, one thing most of us can agree on now is that global warming is a reality and that it has reached a point of no return. In the difficult times that are sure to come, I hope that as citizens of one of the most beautiful areas of the world we can work together to protect our environment now, regardless of our other differences.

Chris Parmentier

Crescent City