Sherman Bamford, left, as Thomas Jefferson, and Steven Krichbaum, as George Washington, talk about natural forests Wednesday in front of Rep. Bob Goodlatte's office in Lynchburg.
By Laura J. Gardner

"We must use a good deal of economy in our wood, never cutting down new, where we can make the old do."

Thomas Jefferson wrote those words nearly 200 years ago, and they were invoked again Wednesday as actors portraying Jefferson and George Washington staged an "Endangered Forests, Endangered Freedoms Roadshow" on Main Street in Lynchburg.

The rally was held across the street from the office of U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-6th District, to draw attention to proposed changes in national forest policy via the Bush administration's "Healthy Forests Initiative."

Environmental groups, including event-sponsor Virginia Forest Watch, say the policy turns the forests into logging operations in the name of fire prevention to the detriment of wildlife, water quality and forest health.

Sherman Bamford, who posed as Jefferson, and Steve Krichbaum, who was Washington, took jabs at corporate greed and politicians who are beholden to it.

"We threw off the tyranny of the monarchs of England," Bamford said. "But new tyrants have emerged. Now in the 21st century, we find that forests, indeed all of nature, and our great American freedoms are endangered - not by a king on a throne, per se, but by a small percentage of the world's people - very greedy people and their corporations."

Only a handful of spectators watched the skit by Jefferson and Washington, who represented the Virginia national forests named for them.

"I think they raise very important issues, but I wish they'd stayed more focused on the George Washington and Thomas Jefferson forests," said Ron Reeder, who heard about the protest via e-mail. "I strongly disagree with Bush's Healthy Forest Initiative."

Bob Fener, a volunteer with the Pedlar Fire Department, said concerns about wildfire in the West are very different from those here.

"One blanket policy doesn't make sense," he said.

Jake Kreilick of the National Forest Protection Alliance, who was part of the roadshow, said commercial logging in the national forests makes no sense.

"We basically feel it's a money-losing program," he said, noting that timber sales from national forests have a net loss of $1.3 billion a year, and represent only 2 percent of the wood the United States consumes.

The roadshow visited Staunton and Harrisonburg earlier this week and will be in Roanoke today. The group targeted the offices of Goodlatte because he represents the area that includes the two national forests, and has been in favor of increased logging and road building.

Goodlatte could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but his spokeswoman, Elyse Bauer, said she was surprised by media coverage of the Forest Watch event and their "nutty claims."

"In terms of the actual protestors, in one of their own press releases, they actually suggested that the Declaration of Independence be modified to say all species are created equal," she said.

Michael Mortimer, an assistant professor of Forest Law and Policy at Virginia Tech and policy chairman for the Virginia Society of American Foresters, said in a telephone interview that environmental groups have their own agendas with incentives "to act in a certain way" in criticizing forest policy.

The Forest Service should actually be harvesting more timber from the Jefferson National Forest than it has proposed, Mortimer said. The service harvests about 2,000 acres a year in the Jefferson, which covers 1 million acres, he said.

Mortimer said the main problem in the Jefferson is that the forest does not have enough variety in terms of age and diversity.

He said the Healthy Forests Initiative is trying to expedite projects that have a low environmental impact but high importance for fire prevention, insect control and timber salvage.

Contact Shannon Brennan at sbrennan@newsadvance.com or (434) 385-5561.
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