Thanks, Tim McGraw. 

The solution is obvious. The land should be owned by the private sector, not the government. A private owner protects his investment. The government doesn’t give a damn either way.

In Washington State, the Forest Service land is clearcut and not renewed. Forest land owned by private companies like Weyerhauser and Plum Creek rarely clearcut their land. They thin their forests of unwanted trees and plant new ones when the big trees are harvested.

When the railroads went through the mountains of Washington State, the land was given to the railroads in square mile patches that alternated on each side of the RR route like a checkerboard.

I’ve flown over these areas at low altitudes in small airplanes. It is obvious from the air which tracts are now privately owned (formerly owned by the railroads) and those now owned by the Forest Service (government).

The Forest Service square mile tracts are clear-cut and look like shit.  The privately owned square mile tracts of forest look healthy.