OPINION: Timber regulations protect public interest, environment

Regulations are necessary for forest protection

In his My View article (5/15), “In Oregon, homes don’t come from the hardware store”, Chris Edwards laments that the Oregon forest products industry is subject to state regulations which decrease the amount of timber that can be harvested by the 50 forest products companies that he represents.

Regulations, however, are put in place to protect the public interest in productive forest lands and in the environment. When I graduated in forestry from Oregon State University in the 1960s, the forest products industry was not regulated and logging was leaving vast, unplanted clear cuts and destroying wildlife habitat. The State of Oregon was compelled to regulate the industry and did so in 1971 with the passage of the Forest Practices Act, which mandated the regeneration of forestland and the protection of habitat.

Government regulation of the forest products industry has been beneficial not only to the production of timber, but to the environment and to the people of Oregon.

John Kovash

Lake Oswego