Don't count on new trees

To the Editor:

The Bush administration announced a global warming initiative to plant on mined lands 38 million trees a year for three years. Don't count on Illinois yet, Illinois coal companies from 1930 to 1968 planted 18 million trees. Prime timber today are Sahara Woods near Harrisburg with our best stand of white oak, Black Diamond near Du Quoin also with apple and peach orchards, and forests and lakes of Pyramid State Park south of Pinckneyville that have been an environmental, educational and recreational boon. Federal and Illinois strip-mine regulations strong on control and weak on good reclamation ended successful tree planting in the 1970s.

Illinois has failed to implement strip-mine laws properly. Much strip-mined land west of Harrisburg and north of Illinois 13, where forests are legally required to be replaced, now has fields being invaded by exotic autumn olive and cedars. By 2028 mined lands, now grassland from Pinckneyville to Sparta, will be the same.

There are no forests; the soils now replaced in Southern Illinois have grown weeds, not trees.

Forcing companies to replace four-foot of infertile, compacted, poorly-drained fragipan and claypan soils forfeits an irreplaceable opportunity to build better soils. Let reclamation specialists with needed skills enrich minesoils with fresh minerals for increased fertility, good drainage, and reduce reclamation costs now $30,000 an acre.

Progressive mining states like Kentucky will plant the 38 million trees per year announced yesterday. The deforesting of Illinois by IDNR has no end in sight.

Clark Ashby, Carbondale

Save our state parks

To the Editor:

You may soon lose your opportunity to ride a bicycle or hike in a state park. A camping vacation with your kids or grandchildren may be more expensive because you'll be traveling farther to reach a campground. Visit a taxpayer-supported historic site after Oct. 15 and you could be arrested for trespassing.

Gov. Blagojevich's decision to close 11 state parks and 13 historic sites doesn't take into account that $2.4 billion are spent in Illinois on wildlife-related activities - bird-watching, hunting and fishing - and 44 million visitors go to our state parks each year. Also, park concessionaires and other local businesses will suffer if the parks close.

Restricting access to natural areas will add to the alarming trends showing our children are spending more time with television and video games than pursuing imaginative play outdoors. A child is six times more likely to play a video game than ride a bike on any given day. There is also a national campaign to address the trend of "nature deficit disorder" in children and to "leave no child inside."

A century ago, President Teddy Roosevelt urged every American to make conservation the patriotic thing to do.

Now, it is time send a message and make your voices heard about our priceless state parks and historic sites. I ask you to start by visiting www.SaveOurStateParks.org.

Pat Quinn, Lieutenant Governor

McCain means more troubles

To the Editor:

This election I will vote for Obama and I believe everyone should. George W. Bush has proven to be the worst president in living memory. His intentions may have been good, but he wasn't smart enough to pull it off.

John McCain claims to be a maverick, but he has voted with Bush more than 90 percent of the time. Like Bush, McCain lacks the circuits and the patience to deal with complexity. Unfortunately, life is messy. International and domestic affairs are not always as neat as we would prefer. Short, simply-stated responses may have wide appeal, but don't often lead to best solutions.

Sarah Palin thinks McCain is right about most everything. Barack Obama loves America. He is very smart and he's the bravest man I know. Republican presidents have a habit of announcing cut-and-dried positions that have to be reversed when circumstances call for re-evaluation. Reagan gave us Iran-Contra, Bush Sr. said "Read my lips," and Bush Jr. insisted Iraq had WMDs.

If McCain is elected, I suspect history will, indeed, repeat itself. Somebody once said that nobody ever lost money betting on the innocence of the voting public. I used to think that was funny.

Ed Willis, Oraville