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A lot of Congresspeople yammer on endlessly about the dire state of the economy. They go on Sunday morning TV yakfests and jabber with deep looks of concern on their faces about how America is in a pickle.
At least one Congressman, however, is putting action behind his words. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., may not have donned hiking boots for his trek up Capitol Hill to meet with President Obama. He may not have needed a heavy backpack to deliver a letter to U.S. Forest Service Chief Gail Kimball. But he did inform the president and the chief in no uncertain terms that the state of the economy in his home district is in dire straits. And action needs to be forthcoming, immediately.
Of course, government action is something of an oxymoron. But we can only hope Walden’s words are taken very, very seriously.
The gist of Walden’s message is as follows: This is an emergency. Take steps to speed forest management action. This will not only improve forest health and reduce the risk of catastrophic forest fires, it will improve the economies of towns in the region and help families by putting breadwinners back to work.
Sure, Walden along with all Republicans did not support the federal stimulus package designed to put more people back to work. But he spared no details in his letter to the chief. The district is suffering from staggering levels of unemployment, Walden pointed out. In fact, in Crook and Harney counties, joblessness has surged to more than 20 percent. That’s right: 2-0. At the same time, the forest needs not a Band-Aid but surgery. Ravenous bugs have killed 200,000 acres of the Winema-Fremont National Forest, and the area is ripe for a catastrophic wildfire. In the Malheur National Forest, meanwhile, forest management is lagging a ludicrous 28 years behind. The backlog of forest management work needing to be accomplished is staggering to behold.
Walden also mentioned in his letter that growth rates in Eastern Oregon’s national forests exceed harvest rates by 10 times. So much for sustained yield management.
Sure, there will be naysayers who claim Walden’s letter is just a resource grab, that more of the forest needs to be set aside for wilderness and not for multiple use management. A balanced approach is needed to managing these public lands that belong to all of us. But at a time of economic devastation, there will be no better window of opportunity to bring forest harvest back in line with forest growth so blood can be pumped back into local communities now gone anemic.
The Forest Service chief should implement policies designed to expedite harvest in this emergency. Eastern Oregon’s hardworking men and women now idled deserve no less.
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Opinion 
