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Out of the Mouths of Babes
May 5, 2006
Mark Rey is the U.S. Department of Agriculture under secretary who oversees the Forest Service. As the acerbic Rey is fond of joking, people who read about him in the newspaper must think that his full name is “Mark Rey Former Timber Industry Lobbyist.”
Well ... Rey is a former timber industry lobbyist. Since 2001, Rey has been entrusted with the stewardship of 191 million acres of forests and grasslands owned in common by the American people.
Rey is point man for the administration’s lamentable proposal to sell some 300,000 acres of national forest lands in order to fund rural school support. This week, Rey gamely defended the proposal before the toughest crowd he has ever faced.
Not frowning environmentalists who have gone toe to toe with Rey and company in courtrooms and Congress for years.
Not hard-boiled DC reporters eager to tease out discrepancies from his remarks.
No, it was a classroom of 6th graders who, like most kids, can see right through the malodorous jabberwocky that passes for the lingua franca among too many important grownups in Washington, DC.
The students are concerned about selling parts of the Croatan National Forest in North Carolina. One of the kids sent Rey a brutally frank letter asking him how he would feel if trees around his house were cut down. Ouch. Not the kind of pointed inquiry a high-level bureaucrat is used to hearing.
Give Rey credit for taking the kids seriously and giving them some of his time. But his case for selling national forest lands is still not convincing.
For starters, it’s hard to make a case that selling a capital asset to fund ongoing expenses is responsible fiscal management. While the current administration is not renowned for its prowess in managing federal finances, one would think that a conservative administration would understand that selling the furniture to pay the light bill is not financially sustainable.
Looking out at the long term, selling small bits of federal lands would set a bad precedent for selling larger, much larger bits. With the federal government facing unfunded liabilities of stupefying magnitude, the temptation to sell lands in order to meet the entitlements payroll would be too much for future Congresses and presidents to resist.
Once sold, the public's heritage would be gone for good. Development is the most likely fate for lands put on the block. Forests, wetlands, meadows, and creeks that lend beauty and enhance local character for nearby communities would give way to the tiresome, “anywhere, America” ambiance of exurban traffic, starter mansions, and shopping malls.
Which is exactly what is bothering the 6th graders at Broad Creek Middle School in rural North Carolina. The Croatan National Forest abuts North Carolina’s choice coastline, coveted for ocean views amidst the pine forests. As one of the students wrote: “I have lived here all my life, and when I was little, it was prettier. We keep adding all these houses.”
Fortunately, the sale idea is going nowhere fast. Powerful Republicans not usually listed among Congress’ conservation champions have lined up against it. They include two who hold the purse strings: North Carolina’s Charles Taylor, chairman of the House Interior appropriations subcommittee, and his counterpart in the Senate, Montana’s Conrad Burns.
Even President Bush’s nominee to head the Interior Department, Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne, threw cold water on a similar sales plan that the boss has proposed for Bureau of Land Management properties in the West.
As the old saying goes, out of the mouths of babes. Rey and his superiors should pay heed.
