"I think that I would hate to work for the Forest Service right now. You would not be doing forestry, you would be doing public relations."
Looking at the way the Forest Service has to do business today, with all of the public meetings and the policy decisions, I think that I would hate to work for the Forest Service right now. You would not be doing forestry, you would be doing public relations. And trying to come up with a plan based on science that's been done, you can't do that anymore. You have to come up with a plan that makes everybody happy, and so you come up with a watered-down plan that isn't really workable, and isn't going to have a very good effect. So I look at the Forest Service now, and I think that would be a super-tough job, to have to have right now, because the policies are not going to come out being good, because of all the politics involved.
Everybody has their own idea of how something can be done. And with different groups being able to sue, there's no chance of moving ahead. I think they've done a wonderful job with the fire program they've got. Even with all of the opposition we've had to it, they've been able to at least get started on it. How long it will go, I don't know. But I do look at forestry now and think, "Boy, it's not the same job as it was when I looked at it when I got out of Forestry. You don't do the same things at all."