Dear Editor,

A recent article in the Post Independent by Scott Condon of the Aspen Times had two different views of the Healthy Forests Act. Sloan Shoemaker is quoted as saying that according to the Government Accounting Office, appeals by the public and environmental groups have delayed only a small fraction of logging projects nationwide. I would like to present some facts from that study that show otherwise:

– 59 percent of forest thinning projects in 2001 or 2002 were appealed.

– 52 percent of thinning projects in the wildland-urban interface were appealed.

– 66 percent of fuel-reduction projects in California were appealed.

– 161 of 180 appeals were found to be without merit.

These appeals by radical environmental groups such as the Aspen Wilderness Workshop are for one purpose ” to stop resource management on our national forests.

According to the regional forester for California, the San Bernardino National Forest, where 26,000 acres burned, is suffering from drought and weakened trees ” and because of efforts by environmental groups, no tree thinning or removal has occurred for more than 10 years. Lumber mills have closed, and now removal of dead and diseased trees is expensive.

These appeals are costing taxpayers millions of dollars each year. Dollars that could be better spent on recreation improvements, road maintenance and other projects that benefit we, the users.

It is time that the public makes it loud and clear to these radical environmental groups that we are sick and tired of their obstructionist activities.

Richard E. Woodrow

Glenwood Springs