SNOBELEN: Americans can’t see the forest for the trees

By John Snobelen

My grandfather once told me that you can accomplish anything in life, so long as you don’t need to take credit for it. I’ve learned not to take the wisdom of a Depression-era farmer lightly. Generally, it’s best to let others share in whatever light is cast from any achievement.
But there are times when taking credit is useful or perhaps even essential.
Taking credit is different from seeking or demanding credit. My cowboy friends have a particular disdain for the horse whisperers who never seem to show up at a contest when money is on the line, but who brag incessantly from the comfort of their barn. The folks who boast about everything are boring.
But keeping your light under a basket isn’t always the best policy. Take, for instance, the recent flare-up over Canada’s “management” of our vast forests. Managing wilderness is obviously oxymoronic. Land that is managed is not, by definition, wilderness.
Managing lands requires proper balance
Canadians are stewards of both vast tracks of wilderness and managed public lands. Being good stewards requires plenty of patience and a long perspective, particularly when balancing the demands on the land with good conservation practices. The business of setting quotas for harvesting lumber, minerals and game is a blend of science and art.
In Ontario, tree harvesting on Crown land is tightly controlled with vast parts of the province left in a natural state. Every year the province allocates a precise volume of trees that can be harvested, subject to strict cutting patterns that roughly mirror the patterns of natural fires. The province suppresses fires in these areas to protect the resources and the people who live and work in the region.
At least that’s how it’s supposed to work. Our American cousins have thrown a wrench into the works by applying tariffs on Canadian softwood, closing mills and curtailing the harvest. The formula here is simple: Fewer trees harvested equals more fires.
We are in the middle of a particularly fierce fire season this year. As weather patterns force the smoke south, a gaggle of American politicians have lashed out at the inconvenience of living in the natural world.
These are folks whose experience of wilderness is limited to searching for golf balls in the fescue of their private course. They curse the fescue and, apparently, Canada. Why can’t we just put out the fires?
Canadians should boast more
That level of ignorance is breathtaking. But I can’t help but wonder if we are not at least partially to blame for the rantings of people who have no idea how vast the Canadian wilderness is or how much expertise we have in protecting it. Maybe we should boast a little.
I’ve met the people who care for the most remote parts of Canada. I’ve felt the shudder of a water bomber when the chute hits a lake and the pitching and intense heat as a fully loaded CL-415 braves thermal patterns to drop 1,500 gallons on a forest fire.
I’ve met the crew chiefs and firefighters who lug equipment over tough terrain to battle a fire roaring over the landscape. These men and women are the best in the world at doing a nearly impossible job. We ought to brag about them.
The same is true of the cadre of other talented people who work year-round to preserve one of the world’s last great wilderness areas. We ought to be proud of their work, no matter what those American golfers say.
Source: https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/americans-cant-see-forest-for-trees