Defining the “Virgin” Forest

A vestal virgin, detail of an engraving by Sir Frederic Leighton, created Lord Leighton, the first British artist to be given a title. (around 1880) The artist died in 1896.

Long before this blog, I became irritated by an email at work and wrote the following response about “virgin” forests. I attempted to get it published as an op-ed by Journal of Forestry, but they (wisely) demurred, both because it could have been written better, and it’s a bit out of the box, and perhaps, offensive.

I’m not going to pick on our invited poster, Mark, who first brought it up, but I have difficulty believing that the Park Service actually has an index of “virgin” attributes. Here is Fenwood’s related comment.

DEFINING THE VIRGIN FOREST

I would like to point out that the term “virgin” forests may not be the best term to use for a variety of reasons. At least not from my perspective, that of an evolutionary biologist who happens to be a human female. The use of the term in the human context seems to presume that the virgin forest state is somehow preferable to other states. While virginity is a trait that might be desirable for males to look for in females in terms of evolution (ensuring paternity), it is quite the opposite for females (no fun, no children). One could argue that it is a vestige of a patriarchal society that focuses on the desirability of virginity (usually only for females). If virginity were such a great deal for both genders, Homo sapiens would have died out a long time ago.

When the two genders come together it is the fountain of much of the physical and spiritual creativity of our species, and leads to the miracle of new persons. It is a sacred act. To call a forest with minimum human intervention “virgin” seems to assume that equally creative and sacred acts are not likely to come from humans relating to the forest, and that there are not mutually positive things that could come from such a relationship. I don’t agree with that underlying assumption and with the fact that it is disguised and not open to question simply by the use of the term and analogy to“virgin.”

I think the words that we use can circumscribe the possibilities we see, and are important to dialogue and mutual understanding, which is why I have taken the time to point this out. I also have a hard time with the term “rape” (to describe) human intervention in forests, as the key difference between the sacred act mentioned above and “rape” is mutual concurrence. At this point in human and forest development, I am not sure we can listen to the forests and hear them say, “No.” Using that term for forests that can’t say no seems to me that it demeans the term itself, which should remain powerful and specific to the deep violation (a desecration of the above sacred act) that it was originally intended to convey. Since castration is generally thought to be a bad thing regardless of whether it is voluntary or not, I suggest that each person who feels the urge to use sexual analogies for destructive acts by humans on the land substitute the term “castration” for “rape” at least half the time. As in “this timber sale will ultimately continue the Forest Service’s castrate and run policies.”

Because many of the founders and leaders of our professions and sciences were men, and lived in a patriarchal society, I believe we have a responsibility to question the words they used and the worldview that those words convey.

Finally there is the question of how much human intervention would cause a forest to be “deflowered.” Just air pollution? People picking mushrooms? A campground? People having camped there once twenty years ago? Thinning stands of trees? The occurrence of chestnut blight? This is another place where the analogy would break down. In virginity, from the standpoint of biology, it either is or it isn’t (this is a family blog so if we discuss this aspect further perhaps we should use code words), and the middle ground, if any is the land of lawyers, not biologists. In people’s relations with forests, the middle ground is basically all we have to talk about since humans have affected climate, pollution, species introductions, and essentially no forest on the planet exists today without any of these influences.

If you or your agency feel an overwhelming urge to use sexual analogies in dealing with natural resource issues, my advice is- first, push yourself away from the keyboard and then, take a cold shower.

Sequoia Forestkeeper II, of Probably Many Posts

From Bob Berwyn here:

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — A federal judge in California this week ruled that the U.S. Forest Service can’t simply drop a post-decision appeals process for logging, forest health and other projects approved under a categorical exclusions, which is a streamlined approval process for smaller projects. In those decisions, the appeals process is replaced with a pre-decisional objection period, which enables people to raise concerns before the final decision is made. Read the decision here (PDF on Scribd.com) or at the end of the post.

That means citizens or stakeholder groups across the country once again have the right to challenge certain Forest Service projects after the final decision has been made by a district- or forest-level official.
The agency has often used the categorical exclusion process in recent years to gain speedy approval for projects relating to the pine beetle epidemic. While many of the projects aren’t controversial, some have been.
Absent a formal administrative appeals process — which involves review by forest officials higher up the chain of command — citizens and environmental groups must go directly to court to challenge a project.
In some regions, the agency has done a good job of involving stakeholders in the process early to help shape decisions that have community support. But that’s not the case all over the country, and having the opportunity to appeal enables people to challenge bad decisions without the expense of going to court.
On the other hand, environmental groups have sometimes abused the appeals process to obstruct and delay projects. Those tactics led frustrated Forest Service officials to look for shortcuts. But fundamentally, appeals have always helped ensure that citizens have some recourse to challenge the agency when it comes to what are often irrevocable commitments of public resources.
In his decision, U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence O’Neill also ruled that the agency must give adequate notice for its decisions on categorical exclusion projects, as well as provide the public with an opportunity to comment.
The ruling, issued by a U.S. District Court in California, is a skirmish in the long-running regulatory and legal battle over the Forest Service’s desire to cut red tape, sometimes at the expense of public involvement and adequate environmental review.
The Forest Service fired the first salvo when it tried to eliminate administrative appeals altogether in an attempt to speed up approvals for projects. In response, Congress in 1992 passed the Forest Service Decision-making and Appeals Reform Act.
“Congress said, we want to ensure that you’ve heard all the voices … and that you use the appeal process to repair your mistakes,” said Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics director Andy Stahl, explaining that he lobbied for the appeals reform act.
That law states very clearly that the Forest Service must include an appeals process for any decision or project that implements a forest plan.
Stahl said appeals help make the Forest Service decision-making process accessible to the general public, giving citizens a chance to influence decisions without having to hire a lawyer if they think a project has some fundamental flaws. And based on the agency’s track record of losing appeals and court cases, that happens as often as not.
In the bigger picture, Congress just recently passed a law that eliminates appeals for all decisions approved under Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements, instead replacing those appeals with pre-decisional objection periods.

Here’s the link to the decision (thanks, Bob!)

Sharon’s note : I’m not sure what Andy means by “losing appeals and court cases” and “that happens often as not.” How does that fit in with the concept of “appeals are just a higher level review and often just restamp the decision”? (Not that Andy said the latter, but I think someone has on this blog.) I don’t think that quantitatively appeals are 50/50 affirm/ remand nor are court cases 50/50 (although I don’t have the numbers at my fingertips). Andy- did I miss something or was I excessively quantitative in interpreting “as often as not” as 50/50?

For our mutual education and information on this subject, I propose we each pick a district and look at which actual CE’s are in progress to get a picture of how many of them actually deal with timber harvest compared to other kinds of actions, which are “implementing the forest plan”; so I picked Trabuco Ranger District (the name just came to me) and here’s a link to the current SOPA (schedule of proposed actions).

I found a decision expected in April (maybe not anymore?) :
“The Descanso Ranger District proposes to authorize reissuance of a special use permit for maintaining a club for use by the San Diego Chapter of the Sierra Club, located in the Laguna Mountain Recreation Area. ”

Or this one right below it, fortunately already completed:
“Eradicate with herbicide invasive Spanish Broom along the roadway to improve visibility, clear the roadway for vehicle passage and reduce fire risk.”

Adding notice, comment and appeal to CE’s seems like a great thing for the public, but it seems to me that given the kinds of CEs that are out there, reasonable people could disagree about the value added compared to the taxpayer expense.

I invite you to “pick a district” check out the SOPA, and see what you find.