Environmentalists reject loggers

By _ROGER ALFORD, Associated Press
January 9, 2005

PIKEVILLE, Ky. - Loggers say they're being discriminated against by environmentalists who won't let them join an anti-logging group.

In a twist to an ongoing battle over logging in the Daniel Boone National Forest, loggers have been applying for membership in Kentucky Heartwood, a group dedicated to stamping out logging on public lands.

The loggers say they want to join in hopes of giving the group a broader perspective on logging issues. But so far, 12 loggers who have applied for membership have been turned down.

"We got our rejection letters late last week," said Greg Wells, owner of Green Tree Forest Products in Wallingford.

Wells said the rejected loggers are considering filing a discrimination lawsuit. He said an estimated 30 people from the timber industry in eastern Kentucky applied for membership and all of them probably won't get in.

Loggers and the 280-member Kentucky Heartwood have been at odds over a proposal by the U.S. Forest Service to cut storm-damaged trees on more than 12,500 acres of the Daniel Boone.

Loggers favor the proposal. Kentucky Heartwood adamantly opposes it. If the proposal can't be legally blocked, the environmental group has trained activists to sit in trees to keep them from being cut down.

The group has said the forest has taken care of itself for millions of years and logging thousands of acres goes too far.

Kentucky Heartwood had no one immediately available to comment on the loggers' discrimination claims.

Tori Earlywine, a worker at the Fannin Enterprises lumberyard in Morehead, said she reluctantly applied to join Kentucky Heartwood in hopes that she could help bring a voice of reason to the group.

"I felt like I was breaking the law just filling the application out," she said.

Earlywine said she believes the group should soften its stand against logging in the national forest, especially when logging would benefit the forest. She said she hasn't yet received notification from the group about her membership status.

Kentucky's forest industry directly employs more than 30,000 people and contributes about $4.5 billion to the state's economy, according to the Kentucky Forest Industries Association.

"The last thing we want to do is have mismanaged national forests," Wells said. "What benefit could we gain by going in there and destroying the natural resources? We want it managed properly."

Wells said many loggers feel that Kentucky Heartwood is too quick to file legal challenges to block U.S. Forest Service initiatives to improve the Daniel Boone. That, he said, became clear when the group tried to block the cutting of trees damaged in this year's ice storm.

As a member of the group, Wells said he would encourage Kentucky Heartwood to consider all sides in issues affecting the national forest.

"We just want our voices to be heard, and by joining Heartwood we should be able to say, as members, this is the way we feel," Well said. "We're not trying to shut them down or shut them up."