William Bryan: “To suggest that somehow increasing the commercial harvesting of timber would in any way ameliorate the problems we face…”

“To suggest that somehow increasing the commercial harvesting of timber would in any way ameliorate the problems we face at Tahoe would be a totally spurious argument. The problems at Tahoe are compounded because we had a 7-year drought, the most protracted in recorded memory, and as a result, the forest became very vulnerable to infestation from beetles that ultimately killed vast amounts of trees in the Tahoe Basin. So adding to the commercial harvest would in no way help. Secondly, with respect to Tahoe, we are reaping a whirlwind of practices that involve the extensive cutting of road network to the Tahoe Basin. The clarity of the lake is declining rapidly. This is a lake that Mark Twain rhapsodized about. John C. Fremont, on Valentine's Day in 1844, was the first European to see Lake Tahoe, and perhaps that date has some significance because those of us who live in Nevada have had a love affair with Lake Tahoe ever since. The problem in Tahoe is exacerbated because of this road network that was built throughout the basin during a period of intense harvesting in the last century.”