Comments on: Editorial: Forest Preserve District ignores questions about clear-cutting

By: brian

brian — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:36:16 +0000

folks need to understand,this is our land and we should have say so.i was just out by hass rd. preserves and they have been destroying our forest out there for sometime. if you want to see what they call clean up and stump grinding.areas that have been clear cut a long time ago,all the stumps are still there and debris of no value laying all over the place.not a thing natural about that now is there! please people go see for yourself,is this the foot print we want to leave for the next generation?

By: VeryModest

VeryModest — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:45:57 +0000

I still want to know which “Forrest” Preserve is next on the hit list for destruction. They will watch a measured amount of time for this to brouhaha to blow over and they will hit another park.

By: mark heckman

mark heckman — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:22:06 +0000

I was also at that meeting last night and would be very interested in seeing a copy of the 2012 plan.I wonder if it is something the public has access to? What is “operational”? Does that mean the plan is set and nothing can be done to change it?

I am over the “who gets paid what” thing,and just feel bad that the public wasn’t informed of the total impact of all the cutting before it was done.

Now the board has let out bids to clean up the mess.It’s on their web site today,and we as taxpayers have to foot the bill.

I know most of the criticism is about Roland Olson preserve,but major changes were made to the other forest preserves as well.

The picture of Sugar River Alder that was shown last night is not what it really looks like now.There is still much work that needs to be done up there to clean up the mess.

I hope the board got the message at the meeting last night that we as taxpayers will not stand for this kind of action in the future.

By: Gloria Maloney

Gloria Maloney — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:53:46 +0000

Has anybody priced 2×4’s lately? Of course this lumber has value. I would like to see Lisa Madigan look into this before any more forest preserves are raped and pillaged.

We need a copy of the 2012 plan. The board was given a copy at the WCFPD meeting last night and told they were not being asked to approve it by Randy Olson.

When I asked why it is not necessary for the board to approve the plan, Olson said the plans are “operational.” I estimate that there were at least 30 citizens at the meeting last night who heard this.

We did not get to see what the plan consists of. I am very afraid for what is left of our forest preserves.

By: Josh Price

Josh Price — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:09:44 +0000

Local white pines have little commercial value so I doubt anybody got rich selling these trees. We have pine-plantations down here in Ogle County and have trouble finding people to come harvest them, even for free. Think about it, they have to bring equipment in, pay people to run the equipment. Then they have to truck the trees up into Northern Wisconsin for processing as they’re are no local pulp-mills. Add to this the fact that the wood products market is glutted with cheap timber coming from areas a lot more suited to growing and processing trees(the Pacific Northwest for example), and you will realize that these pines are basically worthless. Nobody made a mint selling these trees, trust me. I take the Forest Preserve representative at his word, they’re just to to restore these lands to a pre-settlement state.

By: Husq Stihl

Husq Stihl — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:32:11 +0000

No. 21, marked “not answered,” is answered in detail by Mr. H. “Ground and brush mown” is plain as dirt.

By: Gloria Maloney

Gloria Maloney — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:38:28 +0000

“We would not have considered this work without someone willing to pay us.” Tom Hartley

Who is the “us” Mr. Hartley is refering to?

Thank you, Mr. Schier, for you attention to the destruction of our forest preserves. I am shocked to actually read about how many trees were cut and sold.

I noticed that Mr. Hartley did not mention how long White Pines should be expected to live. According to the White Pine Society, White Pines should live 200 to 400 years.

A good website to learn about the problem of tree harvesting in public lands is under “origins of wps”. Although what has been done here is on a smaller scale, than in the Northwest and other areas, it is still horrible.

These are very good questions. The public has a right to know the answers. The amount of destruction has, in part, been answered. I want to know the answers to the rest of the questions.

According to the WCFPD, only Junipers are native to this area. What a coincidence that Junipers are the least likely to have any commercial value.

By: Jim Kennon

Jim Kennon — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:16:48 +0000

This is unfortunate, this was a perfect opportunity for them to to communicate. It looks like we will have to dig for the truth and we will do so. We intend to hold these people responsible for this action as well as any future. The Taxpayers do matter.