While tourism generates over 1600 jobs , only one person is needed to drive a feller-buncher and clearcut 10 acres a day, and a chipmill can be run with a crew of 6. These outside businesses create a rush of jobs which dry up as soon as the land is cleared. School districts are also artificially dependent upon timber revenue, which varies from year to year. Instead, legislation is begin pushed through Congress to give these schools funding at higher levels than timber revenues could guarantee. Camping and hiking bring people into contact with Nature and support a successful recreation industry.
Intact watersheds filter our water as trees capture pollution in our air and generate oxygen.
Areas of unbroken forest are home to endangered species like the Indiana Bat and Hellbender who depend on secluded forest interior and old-growth trees. No one wants a ravaged wasteland, animals find no shelter and dead trees do not clean our environment. After a Federal judge halted the Mortality II timber sale in October of 1997, forcing the Forest Service to examine the environmental impacts of clearcutting several thousand acres, many thought the Allegheny was on the road to recovery. Instead, Mortality is back with a vengeance. East Side doubles the logging planned for Mortality, threatening entire ecosystems including protected old-growth areas.