Public lands belong to all Americans and to future generations. Yet, nearly 40 million acres of our national forestlands have already been destroyed by logging. Native forests play an important role in creating topsoil and minimizing erosion, abating floods, preventing droughts, and cleansing the air.
Native forests moderate the climate and are a major source of medicines.
The National Forests system also provides over half of this nation's remaining wildlife habitat. It's a lot less now. One out of every two trees cut in this country from private and public lands is wasted through inefficient utilization and lack of recycling. Despite the existence of alternative pulp fibers such as straw, bamboo, hemp, and kenaf, about half of all trees cut in the US and the world each year are turned into paper products. Taxpayers, not industry, pay for timber sale administration, logging road construction, replanting, restoration, and related costs.