Analysis of Ethical Issue
A current ethical issue of deforestation can be linked to the Bush Administration for upending the popular Roadless Area Conservation Policy which was initiated by Clinton in 2001. This put over two million acres of public forest land without roads at exploitation risk, more especially after fire. Bush’s administration gave Governors the power to petition the Forest Service for the continual preservation of public forest, which Governor Kulongoski adopted. The US Forest Service despised the petitioning process and went on to sell trees in hundreds of acres in Roadless Forest in Southwest Oregon. The Forest Service did this despite efforts from Oregon Citizens, environmentalists, and Gov. Kulongoski trying to stop deforestation(Garber, Paul, Molina, and Molina 786).
Due to these events, Oregon lost several acres of trees on public land which is estimated to be over 90 percent. Currently, the ethical issue is if the elected representatives will fight to protect the remaining 10 percent of forest in Oregon. PerriKnize who is a former volunteer in USFS argued that it is dangerous if the US government continued to view the public forests as a source timber. He went on to say that this warranties the US Forest Service to continue cutting down trees rather than safeguarding the integrity of forests owned by the public(Geist and Lambin 66). From the standpoint of resource, he admitted that there was a need for the wood products, and people need jobs from forests, but all these requirements can be achieved from millions of acres owned by private investors. Although, this should also be done in a sustainable manner(Geist and Lambin 68). Public land can offer employment opportunities through the US Forest Service stewardship jobs to reinstate damaged areas and clear plantation stands to avert fire and support growth of larger trees.
Fig 1: Deforestation underway in Oregon. …(Preston 258)
Description of the Land
Estimation reveals that over 10 million hectares of forest have been lost since 2000 due to deforestation. Deforestation remains to be a major environmental challenge in Oregon. This issue jeopardizes individual’s livelihoods, intensifies global warming, and threatens species which depend on the forests(Robalino and Alexander 428). Forests are a vital aspect that contributes to humanity, and to realize a sustainable environment measure has to be put in place to halt degradation and deforestation of publicly-owned land(Luck, et al. 1020). In the past, the Oregon forest impacted millions of lives as it can never be imagined. It was a source of fresh air, and wood though human activity has destroyed the larger portion of the forest. It was a water catchment area, habitat for several species, and it helped in preventing soil erosion.
Figure 2: Extreme Effects of deforestation. ..(Barnett, et al 204)
Conclusions
With the rate at which deforestation take place in major public owned forest like Oregon, there is a likelihood that this will result in global warming. The relevant authorities should move swiftly to protect heritage forests which are the source of livelihood. The US Forest Service engagement in selling timber is a contributory factor to deforestation. Efforts to stop deforestation bore no fruits since the USFS has total authority over the forests. Despite the urge to create employment and source for timber in various economic sectors, there should be a sustainable manner in which this can be done. Oregon forest is a source of livelihood to people, species. Therefore, to avert extreme events like global warming, people should in the strongest term possible stop deforestation in the main forests.
Works Cited
Barnett, Jon, et al. “An Inconvenient Truth (2006)(Directed by Davis Guggenheim and Al Gore, Paramount Pictures, USA): Review Symposium.”Geographical Research 47.2 (2009): 204-211.
Garber, Paul A., Alvaro Molina, and René L. Molina. “Putting the community back in community ecology and education: the role of field schools and private reserves in the ethical training of primatologists.” American journal of primatology 72.9 (2010): 785-793.
Geist, H., and Eric Lambin. “Is poverty the cause of tropical deforestation? “The International Forestry Review 5.1 (2003): 64-67.
Luck, Gary W., et al. “Ethical considerations in on-ground applications of the ecosystem services concept.” BioScience 62.12 (2012): 1020-1029.
Preston, David A. Latin American development: geographical perspectives. Routledge, 2014.
Sun, Ge, et al. “Regional annual water yield from forest lands and its response to potential deforestation across the southeastern United States.”Journal of Hydrology 308.1 (2005): 258-268.
Robalino, Juan A., and Alexander Pfaff. “Contagious development: Neighbor interactions in deforestation.” Journal of Development Economics 97.2 (2012): 427-436.