On Wednesday, August 26th, the fire danger was so high that several timber operators cutting on the Stanislaus National Forest were required to stop work at 1:00 pm for fear their equipment might spark a fire. On the same day, one ridge over, the Yosemite Park Service purposely set a fire near a small community. The 91 acres that was supposed to burn was spared, at the expense of 7,200 other acres. Sixteen million dollars later, the “prescribed” wildfire was contained. In an admission that defies logic, common sense, science, and a desire to keep his job…when asked if he would do it all over again, Dave Uberuaga, the Acting Superintendent of Yosemite National Park said, “Yes.” This gave real meaning to the “Acting” part of his job title.

On August 6th, the Sierra Forest Legacy took stock of the timber situation in California and decided it was a perfect time to deliver the final blow. It came in the form of a lawsuit to further restrict Forest Service timber sales. The Legacy group argues that it will suffer irreparable harm if the Forest Service goes ahead with its program of forest thinning. This is all on the heels of new research released by Dr. Tom Bonnicksen, Professor Emeritus of Forest Science at Texas A&M University, which documents findings indicating that all of California’s 14 million cars would have to be garaged for over 3 1/2 years to offset the emissions released by California’s wildfires between 2001 and 2007.

And finally, yours truly just finished writing a 128 page Timber Harvest Plan costing thousands of dollars so that Columbia College could harvest one acre of trees averaging 8 inches in diameter to accommodate their new Science and Natural Resources building. CAL FIRE rejected the timber plan twice because it did not adequately address the impact the one acre tree removal job would have on climate change, specifically greenhouse gas effects (I am not making this up). In the end, the whole thing gave me more gas than the one acre of trees could ever have absorbed!

So, what to do…how can we ever recover from the hole in which we find ourselves?

Well, first pull out a penny or a $100 bill, or anything in between, and read across the top, and never forget that message. Secondly, most of us are not “in the hole”, but are instead watching our misguided fellow Americans dig. That’s not so bad, but when they try and pull us down with them…well…we get angry. That’s where we are right now. The grassroots (or “astroturf” as Speaker Pelosi calls us) are getting angry. Fortunately, our chance to take action is only a November away.

In the meantime, TuCARE will fight back for all of us. TuCARE is one of two interveners in the Sierra Forest Legacy lawsuit against the Forest Service. An October 1st hearing is scheduled. We will be there. TuCARE is doing any good reporter’s job by trying to get access to the actual weather data at the fire line when the Yosemite prescribed fire was started. We will not rest until the truth is known.

TuCARE supports both existing and new home improvement stores. We want to help stock their shelves. We will continue to stay in the forefront of the effort to restart our sawmills. TuCARE is uniting with valley farmers to educate the public and politicians with a simple message…healthy forests = clean and abundant water. TuCARE believes that a 128 page timber harvest plan for 1 acre of small trees is 126 pages too long. We are working toward common sense reforms in our current “analysis paralysis” regulatory systems.

In the meantime…don’t give up—keep the faith—pledge allegiance—read the penny.

I was struck by the word “message.” If you take it apart, it becomes mess and age. I know many of you would agree that we seem to be in a mess for the ages. Our timber industry is on the ropes with sawmills closing left and right. Loggers and truckers are either not going back to work or are wondering if the job they are on will be their last. Ranchers who always thought “stubble height” was what kept their wife at a distance now understand it also refers to the height of grass left behind after their cows have grazed. If your stubble is too low, your cows have to go. I just read we can’t stock our streams because the stocked fish eat the native fish, even though the native fish aren’t around anyway because the streams are too low due to global warming caused by the CO2 you exhale – that is not near as severe as the methane you expel – as a result of the beans you are eating since you can’t afford anything else because your taxes are too high. To top that off, in a couple of days you will have to vote whether to support the tax hike foisted on you by Sacramento – and if you vote it down, the very politicians who got us into this methane expelling mess of all ages will blame you for not fixing it!

After re-reading the start of this message, I should have just stuck with “Greetings!” But I know most of you share the same anger and bewilderment over where we are and what got us here. But I also know this alliance. Most of us are ready to fight back. We don’t put our faith in subsidies, but instead stand ready to produce the commodities this country will need when this recession ends.

So here’s my real message. TuCARE is preparing for the end of this recession. During the past month we have met twice with the Stanislaus National Forest staff to find ways to boost the timber sale program past the current 35 million board feet annual harvest to over 50 million board feet per year. It can be done by streamlining planning processes and recognizing our Tuolumne County timber situation for what it is… a state of emergency. And guess what? Not only are they listening, they are agreeing with us! TuCARE will be hosting a public forum June 19th to help inform those who attend what can be done to move our timber industry forward.

In addition, TuCARE has formed a “coalition building team” made up of eight of our board members to form a stronger partnership between us and the Farm Bureau, the statewide water coalition, ag and energy producers, with the goal of strengthening our political voice. Congressman Radanovich and Senator Feinstein’s staff have recommended we do this and are ready to provide us support. Soon, it will be time for our annual Natural Resource Summit. We may get Governor Schwarzenegger to appear as our keynote speaker. His staff is expressing keen interest in scheduling his attendance followed by a helicopter flight over our forests which hopefully won’t be on fire. While all this planning, meeting and organizing goes on, TuCARE will continue to run its “Tours for Kids” and other education programs.

Unfortunately, nothing TuCARE plans or does will take away the fear and pain that so many of our sawmill workers, loggers and truckers are feeling right now. For that, I can only share with you something my Grandmother wrote during World War II right after she found out one of her sons (my dad) was wounded and her other one was dead. “God is good and we trust Him. He knows. He loves. He cares. Nothing this truth can dim…” I believe God is at work in Tuolumne County. Our community is preparing to pour out its heart and its support to those in need. If you can, please consider donating to the Sonora Area Foundation May SOS Program. They will match you dollar for dollar to provide help to those who will need it.

TuCARE is preparing for the end of the recession. We plan to see a sawmill back in our county, supplied in part by a 50 million board foot harvest from our National Forests. We plan to see cattle grazing in our forests for the next generation of ranchers. We plan to build a stronger coalition between other natural resource providers so that our political voice, spoken by a strong majority, will finally be heard above the din of our opponents.

In the meantime, we plan to help our community in any way we can. And 20 years from now, at our 40th anniversary annual dinner, TuCARE will celebrate the fact that it still remains a strong voice of reason and common sense and that there is no greater place to live than Tuolumne County. We must fight on…don’t lose hope.  As Congressman Doolittle encouraged us, “We will prevail.” Nothing this truth will dim.