FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nov. 10, 1998

Conservation Commission says Midkiff's criticisms ill-conceived

Commission says Sierra Club report is inaccurate and not constructive.

JEFFERSON CITY-The Missouri Conservation Commission is "angry and disgusted" by a report critical of the Conservation Department's forest management, according to Commission Chairman Randy Herzog.

The Commission issued their response to the report at a Commission meeting Nov. 6 in St. Joseph. The report was issued by Ken Midkiff, program director of the Ozark chapter of the Sierra Club. Midkiff was scheduled to appear at the meeting to present the report, but canceled after briefly reviewing a detailed response prepared by Conservation Department staff.

The Sierra Club report was full of "inaccurate, misleading and distorted information," according to Marvin Brown, Forestry Division administrator. Brown cited examples from the report to illustrate his statement.

"It is clear that the author of the report did not understand how to protect our soil and water resources," said Brown. "In one instance, the report states that the site of a timber harvest area should have been bulldozed after the harvest. That is not a recommendation any professional forester would ever make." The author of the study is a second-year law student with an undergraduate degree in wildlife management, according to the report.

"In some cases, the areas cited in the report were not state conservation areas. The author did not contact MDC to make sure of our boundaries before issuing the report. They also criticized timber harvest on an area slated to become a lake," Brown said.

"One statement in the report says we have a propensity to conduct even-aged management, or clearcutting, statewide," added Brown. "We have written management prescriptions on 200,000 acres of forestland since 1992. Of that amount, 62.5 percent had no timber harvest recommended, 7 percent had uneven-aged management recommended, and just 6.6 percent had even-aged regeneration recommended. The author should have looked at facts instead of making up fiction."

"This so-called report went to the media before the Commission even had a chance to look at it," Herzog said. "We are always concerned about any reports of improper management on Department lands, but were disappointed that this was clearly not intended as constructive criticism."

The Commission voted unanimously to go on record stating the report was "inaccurate, misleading and distorted." The Commission authorized the director to communicate to the press, the public and Sierra Club members and leaders their anger and disgust at the way the report was handled and Midkiff's failure to appear and publicly discuss the allegations at the Commission meeting.

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