I'm just a bill...

Quite a few of you reading this will probably remember the old “Schoolhouse Rock” TV show from the 70’s.

Even if you don’t remember the show you may have seen the iconic animated cartoon about how a bill is made. In that cartoon an anthropomorphic paper roll with a red bow sings about how it is “just a bill” and how it comes to be a law. It starts in the House or the Senate and is bounced back and forth between the two bodies until a final version is agreed upon. Then it goes to the President to be signed or vetoed.

If you haven’t seen it, check it out. It’s a catchy little ditty that gets stuck in your head for decades. If you have seen it I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for putting that song back in your consciousness.

Anyway, that show gives the basic path of a bill as it becomes a law. More often than not the path outlined by the cartoon resembles reality about as much as Pepe le Pew resembles a cat. (I know, another cartoon reference, but after all, folks, it’s what I do.)

Case in point: Senate bill 340. Back in 2013, Senator Lisa Murkowski proposed a bill that would transfer 68,000 acres of old growth Tongass to Sealaska corporation for harvest. Sealaska is a Southeast Alaska native corporation and as such it is entitled to land under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Sealaska was also a major contributor to Murkowski’s historic write-in campaign in 2010. It stands to reason that people and organizations would contribute to political campaigns that represent their interests. And those interests are being well represented by Senator Murkowski.

I guess it comes as no surprise that the interests of all my “tree hugger” brethren were also represented by groups like Cascadia Wildlands and Greenpeace. These groups, along with several others formed coalitions that filed suits against the Forest Service to block the sale of old growth timber in the Big Thorne area, which includes Prince of Whales Island and the Alexander Archipelago.

Now before you ask me why I don’t just chain myself to the nearest redwood and have done with it, let me say that I believe timber is the very definition of a renewable resource. Logging is a viable and lucrative industry. We all benefit from its products and it renews itself in a relatively short time. Of course, that relatively short time is 50 to 70 years and not the thousands of years it takes to produce an old growth forest.

There are places in the Tongass were old growth was clear-cut about 50 years ago. There are now stands of new growth trees that have taken their place and are waiting to be harvested. So what’s the problem? Why are we still looking at clear-cutting more old growth forest? Well, it turns out that the longer a tree grows, the bigger it gets and old growth trees are a lot bigger and subsequently have a lot more lumber in them than those younger upstarts.

Katie Moritz, in a recent Juneau Empire article, wrote trees that are 45 to 60 years old are in their “awkward teenage” years. That means that a tree that’s 55 years old will yield about 15,000 board feet of lumber. If you wait for 20 years until the tree is 75, it will produce about 45,000 board feet.

The problem is that waiting 20 more years could bring real financial hardship to communities that depend on the timber industry. The answer is to harvest the younger “awkward teenage” trees which means less board feet per tree. That, in turn, means more trees have to be harvested and that means more old growth has to be clear-cut to open up areas for the growing of younger trees. This is what organizations like Greenpeace are opposed to and this is why they have formed coalitions to try and stop the sale of old growth timber.

It was in this atmosphere that Murkowski’s bill to deliver 68,000 acres of old growth Tongass to Sealaska Corporation started to receive a little blowback. Remember that Schoolhouse Rock reference about how a bill becomes a law? Well when you have problematic legislation like Murkowski’s SB340 you have to get creative. Instead of sending it out to be savaged by the opposition, you attach it to a bigger, stronger bill, one more apt to be passed. Something like a defense spending bill. And that’s exactly what Murkowski did. Of course lumber hasn’t been a part of the defense industry since we moved past spears and clubs, but it’s still a part of this defense bill.

Perhaps we should rewrite the lyrics to that oft sung song? Maybe they should go something like this:

I’m just a bill

Yes, I’m only a bill

And I’m sitting here on Capitol Hill

I don’t have a chance

To move or advance

So I’ll hide behind a bill of finance

There should be a vote on the Defense/Tongass (not to be confused with a defense of the Tongass) bill before Christmas. Once again I apologize for putting that melody back in your head.

Chuck Legge is a freelance political cartoonist and community columnist who lives in Sutton.