Mt. Ashland has found its guts

I am delighted to see Mt. Ashland Association finally go on the offensive. It is equally gratifying to see the results of the Tidings' recent poll. The most number of voters in the last 49 weekly polls (maybe ever), voted nearly 4 to 1 (3.69) that the modest, 71 acre improvement as approved by the Federal District Court be allowed to proceed without interruption from the city. When added to the 10 percent of voters who said that the city should compromise and move on, an overwhelming majority of 7 in 10 voters sided with MAA and the court.

Of the several despicable tactics used by the "stop the enhancement" zealots, apart from their scare mongering, one is painting a fallacious picture that the public is opposed to the improvements. They are oft quoting that "80 percent of the community is against" the opening of the mountain to more family oriented and safer skiing. What "community?" Their own? A small, albeit vocal and well organized, band of Ashlanders and the enclave of Williams. Thanks, but I will trust a non-partisan poll over the holier than thou statements of the zealots.

Remember: this was the Ashland paper. Had it been the Mail Tribune with valley wide readership, support for the improvement and/or siding with the court as a matter of common sense, would have been in the 90 percent stratosphere. One of the selfish acts undertaken by the zealots is the attempted hijacking of a mountain they perceive to be the property of Ashland when in fact it is a regional asset enjoyed for generations by thousands beyond our city limits in five counties and two states.

Who are these zealots? Have you observed them? In meetings and on the street, they are an unhappy lot. Never smiling. Usually scowling. They are angry. Contrast them and their behavior to the thousands who ski and board the mountain and MAA who has provided exemplary stewardship.

It's time for the silent majority to demand that our mountain be returned. That an end be put to this selfishness and pettiness. The last time our city was this united was the time we came together to rescue the mountain when the private sector failed us. This is a community mountain. And the real community has spoken. Again. If our councilors fail to listen, they can expect to have their heads handed to them the next time they run.

Bill Bartlett

Ashland

Sustainability key in survival

Last week I attended "Forests, Carbon, and Climate Change," a conference sponsored by Oregon Forest Resources Institute. Instead of proposing genuine solutions such as conservation, the conference enabled the timber industry to strengthen their grip on our native forests. The conference should have been called: "How the Timber Industry Can Profit from Global Warming."

Most presentations were based on the myth that forests' capacity to store carbon is threatened by wildfire. This myth opens the floodgates to aggressive forest management, which conveniently implies necessary logging, and thus an anticipated timber supply. For example, one presenter favored wood over steel as a "green" building material because fewer fossil fuels are used in the manufacture of wood. However, the speaker failed to address the source of wood (our forests), present one of many truly sustainable building materials, or acknowledge disastrous effects of logging.

One panelist said, "In an ideal society we'd have enough money to fix global warming." But throwing money at our current predicament won't heal years of planetary neglect. The most obvious solution-consume less-wasn't mentioned by even a single speaker. Instead we were pitched "deliberate forest management" as the only remedy.

Changing our lifestyle to consume less isn't a compromise, but a gift that keeps giving. In the words of Masanobu Fukuoka, "We have come to the point at which there is no other way than to bring about a 'movement' not to bring anything about." In other words, stop the manipulations, and please stop cutting our forests.

Jaclyn Weber

Eugene