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BONNICKSEN ADVISES CANDIDATE BUSH Dr. Thomas Bonnicksen, professor of forest science at Texas A&M and well known as an author and forest policy advisor, has published an open letter to presumptive Presidential nominee George W. Bush advising him to adopt a "restoration management" policy with respect to federal forests, "when you become President." Dr. Bonnicksen's vision is attractive: he advocates using the "ecological history of our native forests as the basis of management"-but he turns the preservationist argument on its head by noting that "these native forests resulted from at least 12,000 years of human use." Briefly recounting the longstanding influence of native peoples on baseline forest ecology, he warns the candidate that "today's forests must also be managed or they will become less diverse, less sustainable, more prone to dangerous fires and disease, and less attractive." For Dr. Bonnicksen, "the best hope for America's forests rests on learning from the past and ensuring that professional foresters have the authority and freedom from unreasonable oversight they need to apply what they know." (To view a transcription of Dr. Bonnicksen's letter, please click here.) Back to "News" Forest Resources Association
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