Readers on green-talk are acutely aware of the tragedy of the
Clearwater forest and the excesses of road-building that have come
to light in the last 2 weeks. There is no need to venture into the
woods to find massive, anthropogenic destruction of landscapes.
It is happening right under our noses with the full blessing of
the Moscow City Council and the Planning Dept. Go look. See what
happens with massive road building on unstable soils.
So who is responsible and where does the buck stop? In my last
posting, I said we are all responsible for the destruction of our
landscapes. The people of Moscow put the Boys Annexation and
Development (BAD) Council into office. Indirectly, the people
of Moscow are responsible for the destruction of the Palouse
south of town.
There are 4 things that will prevent such tragedies in the future:
1) Politcal candidates who do not represent development
interests.
2) A planning deptartment with some spine to stand up
to abusive development practices.
3) An impact review ordinance requiring developments to undergo a formal
environmental review. (This is perhaps most important as there are
absolutely no protections to prevent such abuses, or even to learn
of such potential abuses.)
4) A vigilant citizenry.
As the din of special interests crescendos in the West calling
for local control in land use planning, visit the destruction on
Hwy 95 south and ponder the following questions, "Why did the EPA
have to get involved? What happened to the local government who is
supposed to be familiar with local land uses? Who is watching the
watchers?"
-- Greg Brown (gregb@uidaho.edu) Computer Services Adjunct Assistant Professor, College of Forestry,Wildlife,& Range Sciences University of Idaho Moscow, ID 83843 (208) 885-2126 Fax: (208) 885-7539