Old growth forest is becoming scarce and forests like the Mt. Baker-Snoqualme National are often cut. Supporting the logging industry is the immense wood product consumption of the American society. Houses, all types of paper, cardboard, and furniture are just a few of the products that are produced, purchased, and used at an incredible rate. Under the new plan, only 1.2 billion board feet could be harvested from the national forests annually. This is a huge cutback from the 5 billion board feet annually harvested during the mid- 1980's.
Loggers are angry by the plan saying that there was nothing wrong with cutting the forest.
And even with the plan, environmentalists are unhappy because they think there are huge loopholes in it. So continues the heated debate over logging. This example is just one of the vast number of disputes between environmentalists and loggers. Each group says they understand the views and needs of the other but they never seem to reach agreement. Logging is fought about not just in Washington and the U.S. but also in Canada, Russia, and many other places around the world.