The Plight of wilderness, Indiana
The Plight of Wilderness, Indiana
The Mayor of Wilderness, who also happens to be up for reelection soon, needs your help navigating this complicated environmental and economic landscape. Write a 2-page memo (double-spaced) to the Mayor of Wilderness, Indiana, recommending what his decision should be in regards to the proposed logging in Wilderness. You should address interests on both sides of the debate. In other words, you need to discuss how to balance the economic and environmental interests of the town. Be specific with your recommendations and provide justifications for your reasoning.
Background:
The town of Wilderness is a charming southern Indiana community of about 10,000 people. It is surrounded by forested, rolling hills and a picturesque lake. Unfortunately, like many small towns in rural America, Wilderness has faced a long, slow economic decline in the last few decades. In the wake of a coal mining operation leaving the area, jobs have left the town and property values are declining. Further, many in the community are dealing with negative health effects from the previous logging operations. Some people who might like to leave can’t sell their homes because the homes are worth less now than when they bought them.
Recently, the local logging company has approached the Mayor of Wilderness with a proposal to begin a logging operation in Wilderness. The company would like to log the forests surrounding the town.
Many people in the town think these operations will be a boon for Wilderness. The logging company has promised to create 200 new jobs, and surely (their thinking runs), many additional jobs will follow to support the growing industry. For people with few prospects, tied to their homes and families in Wilderness, L&M sounds incredibly promising. Even for some of those who were negatively affected by the past logging operation, the prospect of money and jobs outweighs the potential negative environmental and health impacts.
However, there are others in the area who far from welcome the prospect of logging. These people believe that Wilderness has the potential to become a tourism and recreation mecca for southern Indiana. To them, logging operations are wholly incompatible with a future in recreation in tourism. Further, they fear that the logging jobs will be fleeting and that most of the profits will go to the company’s executives and shareholders out of state.
A portion of the forest outside of Wilderness is already protected as a State Forest, and some people are pushing for additional protection of forests and animal habitat. In particular, the at-risk bat population finds an ideal habitat in the woods surrounding Wilderness, and logging and mining may upset this ecosystem. Critics point out that the welfare of the people of Wilderness outweighs that of the environment. Further, they think that the logging is not incongruous with recreation and some level of environmental protection.
In considering the logging company’s proposal, the Mayor of Wilderness has had meetings with the City Council—an unruly group that questions the Mayor’s every move—as well as many other constituent groups and interest groups. Among these are:
• The Chamber of Commerce, which largely welcomes the prospect, though it is pushing for assurances of a low environmental impact.
• A group of Property Owners, who would love to see their property values return to past levels.
• A number of families who have experienced death and illness as a result of past mining in the area.
• The Indiana Audubon Society, Wilderness Chapter, which is very concerned about protecting the habitat for the native birds of southern Indiana and about the potential negative impacts of a logging and mining operation.
• The School Board, which has a mix of views ranging from health concerns to funding concerns for the school (more jobs and higher property values lead to better school funding).
• A Lawyer from U.S. Fish & Wildlife, who is also concerned about environmental and habitat impacts related to the proposed industrial activity.
The Governor of Indiana would like to see the proposed jobs come to Indiana, and he is perhaps willing to provide insurance of sorts in the form of promises of state-funded environmental remediation in the event of any negative environmental impacts. Complicating matters, the logging company is considering several other southern Indiana towns for its logging operation. The Governor doesn’t care about which town the company goes to, as long as the jobs are in Indiana. Some of the mayors of these other towns seem eager to acquiesce to the logging company’s plans, but they are also not as deep into the discussion process with the company as the town of Wilderness is. The logging company has already invested time and money into their Wilderness plans.
Solution Preview
Environmental issues are highly critical in today’s world due to the climate change concerns. The rising global temperatures and the dangers associated with them have led to environmentalists calling for effective ecosystem conservation measures. At the same time, people rely on the environment for survival.
(672 words)