FORESTS: Here's what lawsuits get

Thank you Idaho Rivers United and organizations like yours for protecting our environment and our way of life. Thank you all for suing the Forest Service and the BLM and creating the conditions on our national forest and range lands that allow for catastrophic wildfires.

Thank you for caring so much that policies like yours are destroying critical species habitat and millions of our wildlife perish every year because you think you know better how to manage these lands through litigation rather than the agencies and their trained personnel.

Thank you for caring so much for our children. Your actions to prevent the Idaho Department of Lands from managing our timber has led to the reduction in funding Idaho’s school children by $1.6 million.

Maybe you can make up the difference with the proceeds you collect through the American taxpayer using the Equal Access to Justice Act. Out of the goodness of your heart you can help rebuild the lives for those who have lost loved ones, those who were left homeless and help fund our children’s education.

This might help us to understand that your actions are really for our benefit.

JIM CHMELIK

Idaho County Commissioner