Editor:

Re: Beetles may drive camp closures. Re: Meeting the beetles. Both articles in the Casper Star Tribune, Friday, Nov. 13.

Well, what do you know, the timber situation has finally drawn the attention of Wyoming's congressional delegation! Where was the congressional delegation 20 or 30 years ago when our land managers were being persuaded to stop the logging? Which destroyed one of our major industries. Yes, I know even with the logging industry in full swing, we probably would have still had a bug problem, due to the draught, mild winters, etc. However, there wouldn't be quite as many old growth trees for the bugs to destroy.

As far as campgrounds, roads and trails are concerned, that problem could be taken care of by cleaning contracts. Send people in along the roads, trails, campgrounds, etc,. to fall the dead trees before they fall on someone's head!

As far as saving money is concerned, the federal government is not the one to count on. When a private business is hurting for money, they close service areas and lay off people. The feds do not do this, they close service areas but they keep the same over-inflated staff. If the forest budget is hurting so bad, why not let their personnel pay a portion of their medical insurance like the rest of us do? Cut some of the waste like hazard pay for the whole forest during fires, when forest people don't even do the firefighting anyway. The list could go on and on of the waste and misappropriation that goes on.

Instead of cutting expenses, what do we do? We hire a national team to help the Forest Service manage the attack. We already have a whole army of high paid "experts" in the Forest Service. Why do we need a special team to draw more money out of forest budgets? What we need is not an outside team, we need a team of local people with chain saws and local forest directors out in the woods, which is a foreign concept in this modern time, to direct the falling of trees which are a threat to us.

Come on guys! Let's just admit we made a mistake many years back by allowing the liberal environmentalists with their quest for "God-hood" to dictate, in a situation they knew nothing about, forest policy. Now is not the time for politics or power plays or passing the buck, now is the time to act like big people and clean up the mess so nature can get back on track.

DALE RAITH, Dubois