Forest Management: Mudslide stumper

Legislators are up against a stumper, or what some folks want them to think is one: Could huge clear-cuts and development have had anything to do with the mudslides and flooding in southwest Washington?

Gee. Do you think? If you strip hills of vegetation, water tends to flow like crazy, carrying soil.

Logging industry representatives suggest everyone jumped to the wrong conclusions from a Seattle Times photo and TV footage of a nothing-but-stumps hillside. According to the AP, however, David Montgomery, professor of geomorphology at the University of Washington, told the state Senate Resources, Ocean & Recreation Committee that forest practice rules don't prevent landslides. Details of this event aside, that's the larger point.

With the hearing, Sen. Ken Jacobsen, the committee chairman, raised issues. He's also concerned about preserving older trees to assure their air-clearing contributions in the global warming era. So, here's another question that has really stalled the state: Will we ever -- finally -- exchange 20th-century-style clear-cutting for the "new forestry" advanced by the UW's eminent Jerry Franklin?