The Great Debate

http://articles.sfgate.com/2003-10-31/opinion/17515075_1_old-growth-trees-old-growth-forests-logging

There is an ongoing debate between environmentalist and forestry companies. Obviously it is the eco-conscious activists that strongly oppose the continuation of clear cutting and selective forestry. Activists are quick to attack logging companies and forestry policies when it involves any kind of logging in old growth forests. Although counter argument from the industry state that they are only assisting the health of the forests and that they are an essential industry that supplies everyone with everything from our houses to the paper we write on.

The article I came across discusses the position that California home owners are having to deal with.During the dry season of in California  homeowners and politicians are working hard to have logging companies come in and take out the underbrush near residential areas to prevent fires from endangering homes. The proposition is called the Healthy Forest Initiative, which insists that logging of old growth forest will protect homes from potential fires rather than cutting out brush.
Although a deal has come up called the Feinstein logging compromise.Though perhaps well-intended, the Feinstein-Weyden compromise leaves the bulk of the administration's original plan intact. It adds some unenforceable language about protecting old-growth forests, but includes numerous loopholes that allow logging of old-growth trees and roadless areas. Further, the compromise fails to restrict activities to the thinning of undergrowth and very small trees. As usual, large healthy trees will be targeted for removal.
 
The compromise package would permanently reduce (and in many cases eliminate) citizen participation and environmental analysis on decisions involving logging of old-growth forests on public lands. What's more, it only requires 50 percent of funds to be spent on reducing combustible underbrush near communities, and it defines the notion of "urban areas" so broadly that projects could be located virtually anywhere, including the back country.
Scientists have warned us for years that the removal of big trees is one of the main causes of increased fire severity. Such logging reduces the cooling shade of the forest canopy, creating hotter, drier conditions on the forest floor. The extra sun exposure increases the growth rate of flammable brush. Where big trees have been removed, dense and highly flammable undergrowth soon develops.