Viewpoints
HERBICIDES
by Stephen B Smeltzer
June 19, 2004
Saturday
OK people, what is it Klukwan Inc. is going to spray on Long
Island? The story I got about six months ago was they wanted
to spray HERBICIDES, not PESTICIDES. There is a difference.
Both are poisonous, but kill different forms of life. Seems
after Klukwan Inc. clear cut Long Island, (after getting the
rights from Sealaska Corp. to log this area, since they could
not log Admiralty Is.), they found that the alders come up first,
(no surprise) then the "money" trees start growing,
at a much slower rate. Alders are nitrogen fixing plants, which
is good for the soil. Kill the alders and your soil doesn't
have the right nutrients. Didn't we learn anything from spraying
in Vietnam? Unlike Southeast Asia though, Southeast Alaska is
a temporate rain forest, not a tropical jungle. Some flora grow
slower here than in a jungle.
What Klukwan Inc. should do is hire kids to go and thin out the
alders. This is certainly a better alternative to spraying herbicide.
Sure it costs more, but just think of putting people to work,
cultivating a forest that was chopped down. New trees could
be planted, and maybe in 100 years or so a new crop can be clear
cut again. Oh well, one can dream.
I may be wrong as to the agreement worked out with Sealaska Corp.
and Klukwan Inc. For that I apologize. As a Vietnam veteran,
I am opposed to spraying anything on our forests. This amounts
to laziness on the part of Klukwan Inc. Your shareholders and
directors got money out of a sweet deal, now you don't want to
clean up after you? Are you broke now so you take the easy way
out? No wonder the environmentalists are on our case concerning
the Tongass. Fortunately a few locals are opposed to this kind
of "forestry management."
I think it was a white man that said, "do what you like,
just don't hurt anyone, and don't destroy the land." Herbicides
destroy the land and hurt the people.
That's my opinion.
Stephen B Smeltzer
Sealaska Shareholder
Juneau, AK - USA
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