Foamy Dog Magazine: Klamath Basin: Not the First Time

Here we have a case of a government agency trying to help out. Their misguided, overzelous efforts to protect the sucker fish nearly helped Klamath Basin right out of its livelihood. The devastating effects of this help may linger for years to come. This is not the first time that a government agency with out of joint priorities has tried to help out only to render devastating consequences.

It's not the first time and it's not the worst time.

Don't get me wrong, the plight inflicted on the families of Klamath Basin was terrible indeed, but let's hope it doesn't escalate to the nightmarish fiasco inflicted upon the Appalachian Mountains beginning around 1900. Over 100 years later, the area has yet to fully recover and never will.

In 1901, the new U.S.D.A. Forest Service surveyed the area in search of untapped natural resources (timber) for "harvesting." The result was the clear cutting of over 60% of all the timber in the region. Huge expanses of old growth virgin forest were buzzed to the ground. The remains of the fallen timber made the Appalachians one big tinder box and wildfires swept thousands of acres. With few trees left to absorb the generous annual rainfall, floods became common. This devastation began a chain reaction of events that wiped out entire species of both plants and animals and nearly wiped out many others.

Each time government agencies tried to help, they created a new problem. In a misguided effort to restore the forests and to save what was left, agencies forced families and entire towns from their homes. Remember, these were the same folks who had been here all along, doing just fine without any "help."

Now there are forests once again in the Appalachians but they are pretty generic compared to the forever lost richly biodiverse forests that once made up the area -- thanks to all the help from various government agencies.

The preceding article barely scratches the surface of the Appalachian plight. For more details, we recommend Margaret L Brown's book The Wild East : A Biography of the Great Smoky Mountains.