I took the North Cascades Highway scenic route yesterday. The recreational traffic was light and the drive pleasant, except for so many logging trucks racing west to the Darrington Mill, loaded with enormous trees from the wilderness areas. The empty ones were racing east, passing the slower cars. I've never seen that before in the park, what gives?
Well, in the hammer blows of daily bad news, this one easily slipped by. In April, an emergency executive order for the "immediate expansion of American timber" rolled back environmental protections on more than 112 million acres — or nearly 60% — of our national forests.
Hard to wrap your mind around a loss like that. Everyone (and no one) owns our national forests. Some logging is necessary, but the largest and most valuable trees will go first under this plan.
National forests are what make our country special! Not just for recreation and wildlife, but mature forests are the world's best defense against climate change.
In happier news, everything is fine here. The river is up some from last visit, but not much. Locals are saying this might be as high as it gets. The snow pack is low in the North Cascades this spring, and yesterday almost all the snow was already melted at pass level.
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