Ron Brown’s letter to the editor (Feb. 12 Protesters are informed) is correct. Any disturbance (Ron chose logging) can and potentially does impact habitat quality for neotropical songbirds, decrease diversity, increase erosion and degrade water quality. These concerns are real and valid. However, is the Shawnee National Forest Service the only agency in our region that is responsible for these impacts? Perhaps you should also file lawsuits with the Crab Orchard and Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuges and Horseshoe Lake and Union County State Conservation Areas for their forest fragmentation. And what about all of the private landowners and businesses that negatively impact natural habitat? Shouldn’t there be a lawsuit filed against the business where you work and I live for the destruction of habitat and increased erosion? Why should they be allowed to increase their business when it is destroying sensitive habitats? And I should not forget the recreation users (equestrians, ATVers, hikers, bikers, ect.) who also impact the forest; they deserve lawsuits too! Forget about the Bill of Rights and Constitution stuff, that is sand down a rat hole compared to environmental degradation. Why do you only blame the forest service for these problems? Every one person who has lived or will live in this region has made some impact, positive or negative, and is some way responsible for the current and future Southern Illinois landscape.

I personally love Southern Illinois, its people and the Shawnee. The recreational and scenic beauty of this region is primarily attributable to the forest establishment. The same can be said for southern Missouri and Indiana. What would these areas look like without Mark Twain and Hoosier national forests? Perhaps you have forgotten what Southern Illinois was like in the 1930s before SNF land acquisition began. Why doesn’t the government satisfy your complaints and turn the 275,00-acre SNF back to private landowners? Certainly Brown can do a better job of forest stewardship, as he sits in his wood house (only 40 acres of timber) by the wood stove (only consumes 2 acres of firewood per year) in the wooden rocking chair (only one 150-year-old white oak) reading the paper (pulp from a Georgia pine plantation) drinking a cup of Folger’s (made possible by clear cutting Colombian rain forest). The plank stuck in your eye has now grown to a log. Mr. Brown, you should feel comfort though because we can all be Pharisee priests.

Ron is also right about Dr. Clark Ashby. I thank God (goodness) for him also. It is comforting to know that a retired ecologist still cares enough to express his opinions. Perhaps Brown would agree that Dr. Dick and Dr. Jean Graber are similar. Unlike this superfluous debate, role models such as them will never grow old, only more honored and respected.

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graduate student, plant biology