By Rep. Steve Pearce / Republican, N.M. 2nd District 

ABQ Journal

A month ago, John Fleck of the Journal contacted my office regarding my statement that “healthy forest management has been prevented by a barrage of environmental lawsuits that advocate reckless policies and hamstring responsible and effective use of taxpayer dollars.” My office shared our extensive research to help him understand the issue.

I am pleased that the Journal took an interest in this topic, as it is important to New Mexicans. Unfortunately, Mr. Fleck decided not to publish the vast majority of the information we sent him. Because I believe New Mexicans have a right to all the facts, I’d like to take this opportunity to share the information I provided.

A quick Google search reveals dozens of news articles on lawsuits related to forest management. In fact, the “press releases” page on the Center for Biological Diversity’s own website boasts of scores of lawsuits. I also provided a spreadsheet, courtesy of the Forest Service, that shows direct correlation between job loss and legal action on the spotted owl.

More than 20,000 logging jobs have disappeared since the owl was listed. In years prior to the listing, as many as 6,134 acres were cut annually. In 2010, only 783 acres were cut – less than 13 percent of historical supply.

Mr. Fleck hit the heart of the matter when he told my office he was interested only in lawsuits specific to New Mexico.

I sincerely wish that decisions affecting New Mexico communities were made only in New Mexico. But this is a federal issue: Decisions affecting Cloudcroft are being made in Washington on behalf of Tucson lawyers. For example, at Fish and Wildlife the assistant director for endangered species told my office that the agency is “inundated with petitions” and cannot keep up with the flood of legal paperwork from groups like the Center for Biological Diversity.

When local issues are handled at the federal level, everyone is affected by every decision. Whether the lawsuit targets loggers in Cloudcroft or California, forest policy is affected nationwide, and we all suffer.

The Forest Service claims the vast majority of the Lincoln (National Forest) is available for logging. But in 2009, only 634 acres were actually logged out of the Lincoln’s 1.1 million acres – less than a tenth of a percent. Decades of failed policies have driven jobs away, and persistent lawsuits and regulations have made it difficult for them to return. Mr. Fleck points to a carefully selected three-year period (2006-2008), ignoring the lawsuits and joblessness that have marked the last three decades.

Mr. Fleck’s article quotes only bureaucrats – mostly at the Forest Service, the very agency in question. But to learn about this issue, you have to get your boots dirty. When I introduced my bill to restore New Mexico logging jobs, I did so on-site in Cloudcroft, after working closely with those it would affect.

I put Mr. Fleck in touch with many of these people: a local expert on forest management, a prominent member of the Coalition of Arizona and New Mexico Counties, a noted researcher at New Mexico State University, a county commissioner, a New Mexico State Forestry Division employee, and other constituents who had contacted my office about lost jobs and public safety risks. I also pointed him to a local mayor, a staff member at the House Resources Committee, and a lawyer who has extensively researched these lawsuits.

All of these people have a personal perspective on how mismanagement has devastated the local community, and they would have told a very different story from the narrow Washington statistics.

Unfortunately, these voices were not given the chance to be heard. Mr. Fleck told me he wanted to write a story specific to New Mexico, but his story is conspicuously missing the voices of New Mexicans.

As a consequence of mismanagement, we also face serious public safety risks. In just the last year, more than 876 individual fires have ravaged over 652,800 acres of New Mexico. We recently saw the largest fire in Arizona history sweep over our border. Clearly, our forest management is not working. As New Mexicans lose property and homes, as their lives are put at risk, we must ask why.

I get it. It’s hard to believe that our government would act with utter disregard for our jobs. I don’t want to believe it. But democracy is about people holding their government accountable, about asking questions and getting answers.

It is unfortunate that when these questions are asked, the askers are hushed, and their evidence is dismissed. But it’s also testimony to the desperate need for all of us to keep asking.