Walking a small path through a canopy of white oak and other mixed hardwoods, I soon came to an overlook, a small rock ledge from which I could view the canvas softly rolling green for miles. The Mark Twain National Forest. However, as I turned my head, the green canvas became more like a patchwork quilt. A square mile of forest, another square mile of nothing but stumps and cuttings, the waste products of logging. The loggers had taken what they needed and left, allowing nature to take over where they left off, to start again from nothing. As I walked down the hill from my perch I noticed the roads that were made of packed dirt and were marked with deep ruts from the heavy machinery needed to harvest the forest's lumber. Built quickly, with little or no consideration for erosion or groundwater runoff issues, these roads would be a permanent addition to the forest. Many of the trails I took through the forest were once logging roads, more than a hundred years ago. I came to the sight of the clearing. I will never forget what awaited me. A desert of stumps and wood scraps, the ugliest sight I've ever seen. This has been one of my experiences with using clearcutting as a tool for extracting wood from southern Missouri forests. This region is not alone in its plight. The U.S. national forest system consists of more than 191 million acres, or more than a quarter of the forested land in the United States (Internet 5.1.95). An extremely large portion of this land is considered public, meaning it belongs to U.S. taxpayers. In the pre-World War II period, most demand for timber was met through the use of private lands, which... middle of paper... represent intact ecosystems that are indefinitely greater than their value as timber. producers." (Drabelle) I think maybe he's right. It's up to us to realize, and then act on, the problem in our wooded backyard. Works Cited "Fact Sheet on Cheap Timber Sales." Wilderness Society. 5.1.95 ( retrieved) Internet. URL: http://town.hall.org/environment/wild_soc/wild_soc.htmlBooth, Douglas E. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 1994. Drabelle, Dennis “Obey the Law and Tell the Truth Wilderness.” Fall 1994: pp. 29-32. Horwitz, Eleanor C. J. Clearcutting. Washington DC: Acropolis Books, 1974. Repetto, Robert public lands forests." Sierra Club 5.1.95 (retrieved) URL: http://www.sierraclub.org/