Obama Administration Rewrites National Forest Regulations

National Forests in Washington State
(map from US Forest Service)

I just returned from a trip to the Pacific Northwest, where national forests are among the region's glorious natural treasures. As the journey is fresh in my mind, today's Washington Post story about the Obama Administration's rewriting of national forest rules held my attention.

Taking the article at face value, the administration has done the nation a service by revising the rules governing federal forests. The land is a valuable public resource. Among other things, it provides twenty percent of the country's drinking water. Consequently, forest management is much more important than meets the eye.

The Obama Administration's conservation-wise approach is a useful, sensible way to go. The notion that resource "extractors" should have the upper hand in this debate strikes me as an act of folly which the United States can no longer afford.