“If man doesn’t learn,

To treat the oceans and the forests,

With respect,

Man will become extinct.”

Peter Benchley

Music:  All Is Gone

As someone who loves the woodlands

My heart aches more and more each day

Our current decision makers in our Capital

Are very swiftly sweeping all our forests away

Their plans are already underway as I pen this

To attack the Tongass National Forest in Alaska

I have been to this truly wondrous and wild place

A place that captivated my heart and soul with awe

Next on their agenda, are over 4 million acres

Of protested forest land, in the state of Colorado

They want to make it available, as soon as possible

To the oil, gas, and timber industries that have no soul

And the very last intact forest system in the lower 48 states

Has also recently been selected for their profit driven attack

Over 6 million acres of now protected, roadless forest in Idaho

And once this truly pristine forest is gone, we’ll never get it back

And unbelievably to me, they also lust after our ancient Sequoias

Some of these giants in the Sierra Nevada, have lived for 3,400 years

As tall as our Statue of Liberty, and just as much our national treasures

But the modern day logging companies and our leaders will shed no tears

My heart now aches for American nature lovers like myself

And for generations of nature lovers and animals not yet born

Take a good look at that cartoon pictured above this poem

Your own grandchildren, will awake to that, one dreadful morn

Today, The Tongass National Forest covers most of Southeast Alaska, surrounding the famous Inside Passage.  It offers wondrous opportunities to observe bald eagles, brown bears, spawning salmon, and the breath-taking vistas of wilderness. One can take a sled-dog ride on a glacier, hike magnificent forested trails, fish in its many streams and in the ocean, or just relax at a truly remote forest haven cabin.

But soon, modern day bulldozers and chainsaws will begin devouring it, piece by piece by piece.

And to me, there is nothing quite as exhilarating, or as humbling, as standing beneath a 3,000 year old giant Sequoia in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

But one day all too soon, they, too, will be gone.

And, As Many of Us Feared,

Our Current Group of ‘Leaders,’

Bowing To Cattlemen and Elk Hunters,

Have Managed To Remove The Wolf,

From The Endangered Species List.

The Wolf’s Wholesale Slaughter,

Will Now Also Soon Begin,

Even In Our Once Revered,

And Soon To Be Destroyed,

National Parks and Forests.

©2008, Mr. Ed