In a Guest Column on Dec. 13, by Erik Fernandez appears to take issue with some proposed logging on the Deschutes National Forest this time west of Bend.

He states his article will tell the rest of the story. I must say, Erik, you are not Paul Harvey.

Erik states that logging releases more carbon than any other sector even transportation.

Then goes on to say logging releases more carbon than does forest fires.

All without a single reference to where this information came from.

During the week of Oct. 19-26, 2007, fires in California emitted 7.9 million tons of carbon dioxide, according to a National Science Foundation research article published in 2007 by Christine Wiedinmyer of the National Center for Atmospheric Research and Jason Neff of the University of Colorado.

This is equivalent to 25 percent of the monthly emissions from all fossil fuel burning throughout California.

That includes power generation, transportation, and manufacturing.

The article goes on to say that overall U.S. fires release about 290 million tons of carbon dioxide a year, the equivalent of 4 to 6 percent of the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel burning.

The implication of very large wildfires is that a severe fire season lasting only one or two months can release as much carbon as the annual emissions from the entire transportation and energy sectors of an individual state.

With these numbers, and the health effects from these fires, one would think that the general public and health providers would be all over the Forest Service to put the fires out instead of the “let them burn” approach the Forest Service now uses.

This attitude was acceptable, maybe 300-400 years ago when timber had no value. In today’s world, all assets should not be wasted, but used wisely and to the highest value.

In doing this, the fire monitoring budget ( what the Forest Service calls firefighting) could be cut to less than a fraction of what it is today.

If we were to log the public lands, we would have cleaner air to breathe, less expensive building materials, cheaper housing (but maybe not since most of the mills are shut down).

Most of all we would have payments in lieu of taxes, to help pay for schools, roads and not have such high fees to enjoy your public lands.

As for the spotted owl and its habitat that Erik mentioned — to imply if only by omission that logging is the largest detriment to the spotted owl and that forest fires are of no consequence — we have been kicking that dog since the early 1970s.

Like everyone in the timber industry tried telling you people, logging wasn’t the main problem, the barred owl was.

I’m sure Erik is, at this time, more concerned now with the Forest Service having the all clear to shoot over 3,000 barred owls to try to protect the spotted owls.

As for fires and the aftermath, I invite you to take a casual trip to see the devastation after an area is totally burned to where the B&B Complex Fire happened in 2003 and the Ochoco Divide Fire.

— Wes Rutledge lives in Crook County.