As we all learned back in the day in school, the federal government began protecting and managing our national forests in the late 19th Century and that, during the initial decade of the 20th Century under Republican President Theodore Roosevelt, the acreage-area was doubled. Today, the USFS manages almost 200 million acres as a public trust for the American people. That forested trust now serves the added vital role of carbon sequestration in the era of biodiversity collapse.
Americans and Alabamians consider these our treasured forests and expect them to be protected and managed with the common good foremost in mind.
By square mile, Alabama has the highest biodiversity in the Continental United States and Conecuh National Forest is arguably the most biodiverse forest in our state. Clear-cut in the 1930s and reforested with nonnative slash pine, CNF is now part of a large ecological restoration effort to reforest with the native longleaf pine which is fire- and wind- dependent like many of the endemic plants of the rare, and disappearing, native coastal plain ecosystem. Endemic and at-risk species in CNF include: the red-cockaded woodpecker, Eastern indigo snake, gopher frog (with 2 of its only 5 known breeding sites inside CNF), gopher turtle, and various species of carnivorous plants. We are charged by legacy and law to protect these species.
Tucked away in the heart of the 83,000-acre (131 square miles) CNF, is the Blue Lake Methodist Camp. Since 1952, generations of Alabama Methodists have sought fellowship, spiritual renewal and the presence of the Creator in this jewel of Creation. Furthermore, nestled within CNF is one of Alabama’s small handful of Bortle-scale ranked Dark Sky viewing areas. And, as we all know, the Good Lord just isn’t making any more Dark Sky viewing areas intended to keep us walking humbly.
As a kid who grew up in West Texas, I can attest to the fact that extraction of oil and gas is a destructive, noxious, noisy process that has no upside in a protected or pristine area. During active oil production, volatile, harmful emissions are the norm and flaring of natural gas is the usual practice. Post-production wells must be adequately capped or emissions of greenhouse gases like methane will continue for years. Remediation very seldom returns the land to its original state. Oil & gas extraction is a visual, auditory, olfactory assault with well-known harmful consequences for human health.
I’ve spent my professional career overseas working on the global frontlines to help low-resource countries protect and manage their national forests—some of that work was funded by the USFWS and American taxpayers. Since our national forest and park system is the envy of the world, we need to practice due diligence when upending the status quo—because the world is watching and looking to us for leadership.
It’s been said that every generation must discover—and then either fulfill or betray—its destiny. Our destiny is to cherish and honor our common heritage by protecting and restorative healing of our national forests and natural environment. We ask you to join us in that endeavor by keeping CNF safe from private industry. Any monetary incentive and profit-taking from the desecration of the CNF—merely for the sake of short-term extraction of dirty energy and/or a once-in-every-other-generation timber harvest—crosscuts both logic and ethics. We all now realize that short-term extraction cannot serve the common good in the 21st Century. Respectfully, we ask you to walk alongside us in this joyous task as we seek to keep our promises, walk humbly, and fulfill our destiny.
No leasing is acceptable in the CNF.
Sincerely,
Richard A “Ran” Nisbett, PhD, MSPH
Anthropologist/Community Ecologist (retired) Alabama- and Mississippi-Certified in Ecological Restoration; Earth Law Practice; and Water Quality Monitoring
Fairhope AL 36532