Have you got a match?

The following dialogue is something to think about when you visit the Black Hills or any of our national forests.

Lawyer: You are the Chief of the Forest Service, a division of the United States Department of Agriculture. Is that correct?
Chief: That is correct.
Lawyer: As Chief, is it your duty to protect and preserve the forests?
Chief: That is one of my duties, yes.
Lawyer: Is it also your duty to manage the forests in such a manner that they will produce an infinite and continuous supply of timber by harvesting the trees on a sustained yield basis?
Chief: I don’t know if I would phrase it exactly like that, but we are mandated to manage on a sustained yield basis, which in theory could, I suppose, continue indefinitely.
Lawyer: Tell me Chief, how much timber grows on the national forests each year.
Chief: It varies from time to time but I think the last I knew we are growing about twenty billion board feet a year.
(At this point the lawyer opened a box of wooden matches and counted out twenty of them and placed them in the Chief’s hands.)
Lawyer: Out of that twenty billion, how much is lost each year due to natural processes like storms, hail, mud slides and the like?
Chief: I think it is a little over one billion but less than two billion.
Lawyer: OK. Let’s remove two of those. (He took two matches from the Chief’s pile.) Now, how many are removed by commercial timber harvest?
Chief: It used to be four or five, but now it’s only about two. (The lawyer removed two more matches.)
Lawyer: OK, Chief. Other than fire, is there anything else that removes significant amounts of this timber each year?
Chief: Not really. I would guess that maybe another billion is removed from various causes. (The lawyer removed one more match.)
Lawyer: Alright. Chief, tell me how many matches are in your hand.
Chief: Fifteen.
Lawyer: And how many years has the service been managing the forest in this way?
Chief: At least twenty. (The lawyer added another three hundred matches to the pile in the Chief’s hands.)
Lawyer: What do you plan to do with those matches Chief?
Chief: Nothing. I’m just waiting for your little demonstration to end.
Lawyer: Well don’t worry because it is about to end. (The lawyer strode toward the witness while pulling a single wooden strike anywhere match from his coat pocket and expertly held it up and struck it with his thumbnail like only an old farmer or rancher can do.)
Tell me Chief, do you believe in lightning?

This of course is not a true story, at least not yet.

And in defense of the Forest Service, their ability to properly manage the forest has been hamstrung by lawsuits filed by fringe environmental groups who believe the forest should not be managed by man.

Whatever the reason, the result could be catastrophic.

Larry Gabriel, Secretary
South Dakota Deptartment of Agriculture