Please amplify on your social media. I have done this via comments on BlueSky posts that are discussing the supposed 'moderating aspect' of Murkowski. Feel free to borrow...
'Please understand that this is poppycock. Wes Siler, long-time journalist, including for Outside Magazine, clearly demonstrates Murkowski is selling her Big Bad Bill vote for repeal of the 2001 USFS Roadless Rule.
you rock on researching the nitty gritty and clarifying their big ugly, Wes. I agree with whoever said here.... "let's vote for their incompetence to increase as quickly as their infighting" besides calling them, naming them and public shaming them whenever necessary. perhaps we can help them fail to meet their independence day deadline and further add to their frustrations. Thank you Wes. We vote for you.
In March, I saw a briefing from the University of Montana that shows western Montana can’t process the lumber we harvest now, because two mills shut down. I hope the administration’s incompetence will continue, and their infighting increase.
I look to Tasmania, the Bob Brown Foundation, and that amazing story. He is such a tireless warrior for Tasmanian’s ancient takayna, the varied temperate rain forests. And particularly Tasmania state’s endless government-sponsored wanton destruction of the forests.
First time reader, having been directed here via Jeremy Jones on Instagram. I wish to be careful what I say, but I will freely admit I’m not a big fan of hyperbole. Let’s look at the title of your article for a second. Your use of the word giveaway strikes me as possibly deceptive. Do we just let them have it for free or perhaps sell it way below market prices? I was also puzzled by your paragraph on John McCain. I have no idea what you were doing, other than claiming he hurt normal Americans, whatever that means. There are other examples I could cite from the piece.
I want to be very clear that I care very much about the environment. In fact, I will be visiting my son in Missoula in four weeks. That is a yearly trip which I always cherish, and have plenty of photos on my iPhone to prove it… hiking in the Mission Mountains, the Bitterroot’s, etc. I certainly hope that others can marvel at that which I have been fortunate to see.
Since you wrote about Alaska here, I might direct you to a Substack post from the folks at Doomberg from a couple years ago titled Pebble Beached. I thought they made a fantastic point in that piece. A large Alaskan copper deposit discovered (I think) about 40 years ago has never been developed. They noted that it’s understandable why development was fought over these decades. But they also pointed out that they are not the ones pushing the electrify everything movement, which by definition requires massive amounts of copper. It seems that many in the environmental field fully support electric vehicles, wind power and solar power, yet don’t understand all the consequences behind each of those. Doomberg stated that the largest increase in production of copper over the last several years had come from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Child labor, no environmental standards….You get the picture. Feeling good about yourself because your car doesn’t have a tailpipe isn’t exactly what it seems.
Hey Douglas, thanks for clicking over. Jeremy and I are planning to do a Substack Live interview in the near future, so make sure you tune back in for that.
All questions welcome here, so long as they're intellectually honest, which yours very much is.
"Giveaways": It would not be feasible for any private business to turn a profit logging the Tongass, or turning its wood into shitty consumer products without massive taxpayers subsidies. Over the last four decades, taxpayers have lost several billion dollars building roads and otherwise funding quixotic efforts to log there. And, as identified in the article, there's really no compelling reason to try and harvest that lumber. Many multiples of the area's total board feet are more easily available, more cheaply elsewhere, and can actually turn a profit even without your dollar helping out. Then there's the question of why harvest 800 year old trees. Doing so just doesn't make sense, since they take 800 years to regrow. Using regenerative practices elsewhere is less harmful, cheaper, and easier.
I hear you on the hyperbole, and that's why I'm not going so far as to speculate about reasons why Murkowski is so fixated on doing so much harm for so little profit here.
EVs: Yeah, there's a lot of harm involved in any human activity. There's still a lot less harm in making batteries than there is in making gasoline.
You certainly are an expert in this, backed up by phenomenally good writing abilities. Thank you very much for sharing this detailed factual report.
We absolutely must stop the destruction of our old growth forests and the delicate ecosystems that shelter us and provide sustenance and spirituality for so many.
I am very concerned that they will change the rules and directly subsidize the logging and mining companies to build the roads, and pay for that by some ruse of which I an ignorant.
Hi Wes, thanks for keeping us informed on these issues. Please check your use of units such as land area for consistency to improve clarity for readers. I was particularly confused by the following:
“The Tongass is referred to as “America’s Amazon,” but that label is misleading because temperate rainforests like this one are actually much rarer than tropical rainforests like the Amazon. Where Earth is home to about 2.4 million acres of tropical rainforest, there’s only 117,000 square miles of temperate rainforest. Destroying the 14,000 square mile Tongass would eliminate 12 percent of all remaining temperate rainforest.”
I understand there are 640 acres per square mile, so I’m not sure if one of the figures is off or the scarcity is flipped. Either way, let’s use forests sensibly! I prefer hiking & camping ;)
Great article. I did catch a video/podcast with Senator Murkowski saying she was thinking of switching over to the democratic party--did you see that? And with the roadless rule goes clean water protections.
Great piece Wes, thank you for continuing to shine the light-and the assault on public lands continues. Just wondering, what’s to stop trump from simply mandating a sale of x% of public lands through another Executive Order?
“The purpose of the Republican Party is to steal from the poor and give to the rich.” Why can’t I give this article multiple upvotes?
I gave the one heart I could give to your comment Brian...
Man, this is such a fantastic, in-depth article! Do you have experience in writing about public lands or something?
Please amplify on your social media. I have done this via comments on BlueSky posts that are discussing the supposed 'moderating aspect' of Murkowski. Feel free to borrow...
'Please understand that this is poppycock. Wes Siler, long-time journalist, including for Outside Magazine, clearly demonstrates Murkowski is selling her Big Bad Bill vote for repeal of the 2001 USFS Roadless Rule.
https://open.substack.com/pub/wessiler/p/roadless-rule-recision-buys-off-murkowski
you rock on researching the nitty gritty and clarifying their big ugly, Wes. I agree with whoever said here.... "let's vote for their incompetence to increase as quickly as their infighting" besides calling them, naming them and public shaming them whenever necessary. perhaps we can help them fail to meet their independence day deadline and further add to their frustrations. Thank you Wes. We vote for you.
In March, I saw a briefing from the University of Montana that shows western Montana can’t process the lumber we harvest now, because two mills shut down. I hope the administration’s incompetence will continue, and their infighting increase.
I look to Tasmania, the Bob Brown Foundation, and that amazing story. He is such a tireless warrior for Tasmanian’s ancient takayna, the varied temperate rain forests. And particularly Tasmania state’s endless government-sponsored wanton destruction of the forests.
There they call it clear-felling.
And one about some tree sitters:
https://bobbrown.org.au/treesitter-defends-precious-forests-from-logging/
Article on overall Tasmania BS:
https://bobbrown.org.au/wa-can-ban-logging-so-can-tasmania-daily-forest-protests-continue/
Jeezus
First time reader, having been directed here via Jeremy Jones on Instagram. I wish to be careful what I say, but I will freely admit I’m not a big fan of hyperbole. Let’s look at the title of your article for a second. Your use of the word giveaway strikes me as possibly deceptive. Do we just let them have it for free or perhaps sell it way below market prices? I was also puzzled by your paragraph on John McCain. I have no idea what you were doing, other than claiming he hurt normal Americans, whatever that means. There are other examples I could cite from the piece.
I want to be very clear that I care very much about the environment. In fact, I will be visiting my son in Missoula in four weeks. That is a yearly trip which I always cherish, and have plenty of photos on my iPhone to prove it… hiking in the Mission Mountains, the Bitterroot’s, etc. I certainly hope that others can marvel at that which I have been fortunate to see.
Since you wrote about Alaska here, I might direct you to a Substack post from the folks at Doomberg from a couple years ago titled Pebble Beached. I thought they made a fantastic point in that piece. A large Alaskan copper deposit discovered (I think) about 40 years ago has never been developed. They noted that it’s understandable why development was fought over these decades. But they also pointed out that they are not the ones pushing the electrify everything movement, which by definition requires massive amounts of copper. It seems that many in the environmental field fully support electric vehicles, wind power and solar power, yet don’t understand all the consequences behind each of those. Doomberg stated that the largest increase in production of copper over the last several years had come from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Child labor, no environmental standards….You get the picture. Feeling good about yourself because your car doesn’t have a tailpipe isn’t exactly what it seems.
I apologize for the length of this.
Hey Douglas, thanks for clicking over. Jeremy and I are planning to do a Substack Live interview in the near future, so make sure you tune back in for that.
All questions welcome here, so long as they're intellectually honest, which yours very much is.
"Giveaways": It would not be feasible for any private business to turn a profit logging the Tongass, or turning its wood into shitty consumer products without massive taxpayers subsidies. Over the last four decades, taxpayers have lost several billion dollars building roads and otherwise funding quixotic efforts to log there. And, as identified in the article, there's really no compelling reason to try and harvest that lumber. Many multiples of the area's total board feet are more easily available, more cheaply elsewhere, and can actually turn a profit even without your dollar helping out. Then there's the question of why harvest 800 year old trees. Doing so just doesn't make sense, since they take 800 years to regrow. Using regenerative practices elsewhere is less harmful, cheaper, and easier.
I hear you on the hyperbole, and that's why I'm not going so far as to speculate about reasons why Murkowski is so fixated on doing so much harm for so little profit here.
EVs: Yeah, there's a lot of harm involved in any human activity. There's still a lot less harm in making batteries than there is in making gasoline.
Let’s hope incompetence kicks in
You certainly are an expert in this, backed up by phenomenally good writing abilities. Thank you very much for sharing this detailed factual report.
We absolutely must stop the destruction of our old growth forests and the delicate ecosystems that shelter us and provide sustenance and spirituality for so many.
I am very concerned that they will change the rules and directly subsidize the logging and mining companies to build the roads, and pay for that by some ruse of which I an ignorant.
Are you running for govener of Montana?
State Senate, for an open seat here in Bozeman. And thank you!
Hi Wes, thanks for keeping us informed on these issues. Please check your use of units such as land area for consistency to improve clarity for readers. I was particularly confused by the following:
“The Tongass is referred to as “America’s Amazon,” but that label is misleading because temperate rainforests like this one are actually much rarer than tropical rainforests like the Amazon. Where Earth is home to about 2.4 million acres of tropical rainforest, there’s only 117,000 square miles of temperate rainforest. Destroying the 14,000 square mile Tongass would eliminate 12 percent of all remaining temperate rainforest.”
I understand there are 640 acres per square mile, so I’m not sure if one of the figures is off or the scarcity is flipped. Either way, let’s use forests sensibly! I prefer hiking & camping ;)
Great article. I did catch a video/podcast with Senator Murkowski saying she was thinking of switching over to the democratic party--did you see that? And with the roadless rule goes clean water protections.
Yeah, I address that in the article. I think she's just "negotiating" with the White House with that stuff.
Great piece Wes, thank you for continuing to shine the light-and the assault on public lands continues. Just wondering, what’s to stop trump from simply mandating a sale of x% of public lands through another Executive Order?
Congress holds the power to sell public land, not the executive branch.
Appreciate the answer Wes, but so many of his actions have flown in the face of longstanding policy