Last Post NYG 2010...

So, again, I apologize for not getting this done earlier and because of my tardiness my days have run together and I am not sure I can give you the same detail that I wish I could because it isn't fresh. But, I am going to give you some think that I was thinking about during Tuesday bible study. The turning of pages in the bible by thousands of kids sitting in a silent auditorium sounds like a soft rain falling on the grass. It was incredible. You could honestly close your eyes and imagine the rain falling. It was similar to an activity we did during our training. As all YAVs were sitting together in training room, the young adult ministry coordinator for the LCMS came in to talk to us about ongoing ministries. She had us clap as she panned her hand over the group and as she moved her hand over your section you would begin clapping, snapping or rubbing your hands together. It made a very realistic noise to that of raining.
Secondly during bible study, the reverend mentioned that the old testament and all its history, genealogies and boring descriptions of places was meant to prove that these places, people and events were real, not made up. That Jesus truly did exist and that it is not just a story but to testify for Jesus' name. Which brings me to our Gathering theme verse, John 20:31 "but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." But what is written? It says in the previous verse, John 20:30 "Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples..." He did miraculous signs!!! If the rest of the bible is full of truths, why do we take the miracles as falsities? Because they're not!! Good stuff!!
As odd as this may sound, this is the first time that this idea has donned on me. I never thought to question why the boring genealogies or histories were in the bible. They weren't there because they weren't important, because they are!
Lastly, he also mentioned a quote that was originally stated the night before by our mass event speaker. She said that you "don't need to have all the answers to have all of God's grace." God still loves you as he loves his own son and he doesn't mind if you have questions because through questions come deeper study in the word and an overall better understanding of how and why Christ works.
Tuesday night was our worship event. The most striking thing about the whole night was that the service can be seen every Sunday in our very own church. (except for the 25000 others and the huge stage and band, but other than that it was the same. Haha) What I meant to say was the order of worship was similar. We sang te deum, the agnus dei, there was a sermon, benediction, bible lessons and even communion! It was exactly like here at home. That was powerful to me. I don’t have to explain myself and my beliefs or rituals to anyone else because they all do the exact same thing. They all know these things by heart, the hymns, Lord’s prayer, and Nicene creed were all said by, I assume, a majority of participants by heart. Like me, they all grew up with it. I can’t get enough. If you are a youth who feels alone, this is the place you are meant to be. There was such a kinship emanating from that dome. It was also the first night that I saw and heard the dome staff (non-affiliated with the gathering) singing and dancing to the songs and really feeling the love flowing throughout the building.
We decided to stay up all night. After the worship service we didn’t leave the dome til 1130 and we had to be back there for our final mass event at 630am. It was our last night in New Orleans. When were we going to be coming back? We didn’t know. We did know that we won’t get this experience for another 3 years. We decided to make the most of it. We got hyped up and walked over to Café du Monde, the famous beignet place. It was pretty empty at 1am and we decided staying up all night wasn’t worth it. Haha we headed back to the hotel, got two hours of sleep and went to the dome about 5am. But first, we had some unfinished business with the International House of Pancakes. I will never talk down IHOP’s coffee ever again. I was drained going into the mass event and right as the kids started lining up, my energy was revitalized. I blamed the coffee and am right in doing so. But, God knew we needed energy to be the people he wanted us to be, the energetic faces of the gathering staff. He opened the opportunity for this attitude through the coffee served to us at breakfast. Praise God for his love for us, because every time I thought “there is no way I can give the same energy today,” God seemed to find it in me and pull it to the surface so I could be the person these kids needed.
Morning Mass event was great. Once again, the planners did a bang up job. The highlight was the boom whackers. Boom whackers are plastic tubes, different colors and different lengths depending on the color. As ushers, we had to pass out the 25000 boom whackers to all the participants in a timely manner (4 minutes) and make sure no one begins hitting each other. We instilled the help of some of the participants and knocked it out in about 2.5 minutes. A drum troupe led everyone in different beats and patterns with the boom whackers. Feel free to check out the boom whackers, soon to be posted in the youth room at church. It was a great souvenir for everyone and made for an incredible end to the gathering.
I met up with the Peace youth, saw my buddy who lives there for dinner and flew home today. It is a bittersweet ending. I love my town and know that if these gatherings continued every day, month or year, they wouldn’t have the same appeal or energy. I am already counting the days til San Antonio in 2013 and have memories of new friends, new experiences to hold me over until then. I can’t wait to hear other stories, see photos and videos from gathering participants and keep in touch with all the new friends that I met. (oh, and get some good sleep!)

(cont.) NYG Days 3&4...and 5...

I am going to try to get through this all, so I can be caught up, but I am not sure that is possible. My time is limited again this morning, but here goes...
Day 4 (Sunday) mass event was once again, great. For us ushers it became a night of injuries, but for the crowd it left many tear filled. We had a youth (or DCE, my facts aren't totally straight yet) hop a railing on the first floor in order to beat the crowds. The seats in certain sections on the first level are only accessible over catwalks from the hall to the seating. There is open space around the rest of it that drops down 20 to 30 feet to the ground floor. He jumped the railing and was surprised that there was nothing to stand on. He fell that 30 feet. Luckily, he was conscious and coherent. Taken to the hospital and after an update from last night, he only suffered a mild concussion and was released yesterday. Praise God. But, we also had, throw-up, an epileptic boy have a seizure (same boy for the second night in a row)and our very own team captain getting his ear piece of his radio stuck too deep in his ear and having to go to the ER to get it removed. Despite all of that, which, in retrospect, turned out to be hardly serious, the event was great. The Skit Guys came out and had us laughing so hard tears were falling. We had an illusionist recreate the story gails of fishing boats in biblical times. He was totally decked out with a sail, wind and he reappeared, seemingly out of thin air behind the sail that was flailing in the wind. And our speaker for the night brought the emotion. She told the story of her daughter, a promising ballet dancer who was tragically killed in a car accident when on the way home from a photo shoot. Many individuals left the stadium with tears in their eyes. These events bring every emotion to the surface with one common theme, praising God!!
Monday morning started just as the first morning started, with bible study. We are in the same auditorium every morning ushering. The groups that enter our auditorium are different as well as the speakers. But, the theme is the same. The Gathering is broken up into 'Tracks." The track themes are LOOK, LISTEN, and LIVE. Every gathering participant has one day with each theme and the activities, speakers, concerts and events for each relate to the different themes. Since we are in the LIVE auditorium for bible study, we heard the same verses about life from the book of John once again yesterday.
But, once again, I have to get off to our third and final full day of Gathering excellence. Catch up with ya'll later. to be continued...

NYG Days 3&4...

My apologies for not updating yesterday. We had our first bible study yesterday morning, which meant a 7am call time. I, of course, had to get my run in and breakfast and that didn't leave much time for anything else. But I will do my best to remember all the good things that have happened over the past 2 days.
Saturday (Day 3) started getting crazy. The majority of groups finally arrived this day and the New Orleans area started looking a little more lutheran. I met up with my home youth group and made sure they were having fun before all the huge festivities kicked off that night at the Superdome. Otherwise, most of the day was spent hanging around, meeting other groups from around the nation and preparing for our first mass event.
We arrived at the superdome at 3pm because we, as usher captains, had to train the other usher teams before the event started. I say, in retrospect, that nothing could have prepared us for what was going to happen when 26,000 kids begin entering the stadium en masse! It was incredible!
If you missed watching the mass events the last couple of nights online at lcmsgathering.com, do it tonight, because it is truly an incredible experience. The house band played, they had a creation story skit with pyrotechnics (YEAH!! Fireworks IN the Superdome!!!), and a great speaker who is 96% blind because of a degenerative, genetic disease. He related his testimony to that of the blind man in the book of John being healed by Jesus. Powerful stuff!!
Despite the sore feet from all the walking and the standing on concrete floors for ushering, I have zero complaints about the job I do. I could not have been more blessed with my roommates, schedule, job, youth group, etc. Nothing has been able to take the smile from my face since we started our training. And until last night, the lack of sleep had little impact on me. But, even I am human (scary, I know) and I started to feel the effects of less than advisable sleep patterns. Regardless, the kick-off to the NYG was incredible!!
Sunday was the first full day of the Gathering for participants. It started off with an incredible bible study led by Rev. Dien Taylor, who turned out to be a highly charasmatic and intriguing speaker. He spoke on us being alive, but not truly living. He said that Jesus is the LIFE and RESURRECTION and without life and belief in him, we aren't truly alive! Nothing could me more true. I am learning that the stories of John (and the other gospels, but since John is our focus book for the gathering, I am highlighting this one) and the miracles of Jesus weren't just placed in the bible for entertaining reading, but are there so that we may "believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:31). Jesus knew that without him we were lifeless. He wasn't arrogant and he invites all of us into his name. He is the Gate, Resurrection, Life, Truth, Way, Living Bread, Good Shepherd, and Light. He is everything we need to sustain this life and the next and without him we would never truly be living, just existing. Its awe inspiring to think someone cares so much for us that he isn't just there for our benefit but for the benefit of all regardless of who you are. He wants us to give ourselves to him as he did for us, because without him we would be lost souls floating until our demise. it's unbelievable!
After bible study we had a number of hours before having to report for usher duty at the dome again for Sunday's mass event. I stopped by some of the Concordia booths, I found a scouting organization that is totally connected to the Lutheran church, and I went by some of the district booths to find some free giveaways! It was a relaxing time and (I say the word again) impressive to see all teh smiling, milling about faces of these Lutheran youth. As one of the speakers said last night, this religion isn't just your parents anymore. It is not your, brothers, sisters, grandparents, or teachers, uncles, or aunts, it is OURS!! We are the future here and it looks bright.
I will fill in Sunday's mass event happenings later, I am off again to report for usher duty for bible study. To be continued....

The Gathering begins today (DAY 2)....

I never realize how yesterday is going to be classified until my morning run. I realized yesterday (while out on my morning run today) that yesterday was full of realizations (How funny, I realized realizations). These realizations are both serious and not-so-serious. But first, a run down of how our day went.
Breakfast at the hotel yesterday was like herding cattle. When our leaders tell us to be at breakfast when it opens at 6:30am to have a "peaceful and quiet" breakfast, everyone decides that's a good idea. Add to that the fact that we all (360 YAV's) had to be at the convention center by 8am and it becomes a mad house. Either way, I got my b-fast and was filled. Breakfast is definitely my favorite meal of the day.
We all met for morning bible study, but we first got our backpacks and bibles. Can you guess what color they are? (Jeopardy theme song) Da da da dada da da da...LIME GREEN!!! It is actually a pretty incredible color. I like it already. Instead of orange (2004 Gathering) or tan (2007 Gathering) we will be a sea of green in New Orleans. We also got our shirts. But as they tell us to be FUN-FRIENDLY-FLEXIBLE, we had to be flexible with the shirts. They ended up not getting all the shirts they wanted which means we only get one shirt instead of the two they promised. And, there were no small size shirts. Everyone had to size up. Thankfully, more shirts are on their way for Monday afternoon and we won't have to wear the same shirt all four days.
After our morning meeting, it was pretty much time for lunch. We met up with the CLBs (Community Life Builders for those who are uninformed. They are pretty much the older generation YAVs. So, if you think you are too old to enjoy the gathering, think again) and had a great sit down lunch. They served some New Orleans favorites, rice and beans, jumbalaya, salad, and of course, brownies. Funny side note, the air conditioning in our lunch room was on WAY too high and it would blow in spurts. It wasn't a constant gust from the vents but it would ebb and flow. Anyway, everytime it would blow I was picturing pterodactyls flying around and the gusts coming from their wings. Lack of sleep? who knows. Kind of pointless.
We finally jumped into our specific job duties after lunch. My group, Team Oscar (all YAV teams are named after military designations for letters, IE: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, etc.), are the usher captains. Why are we captains? Because we are awesome! That's why. But seriously, I have no idea. But I couldn't be happier about it. We traveled the long trek to the other side of the convention center and the auditorium where one of the bible studies is going to take place. They went over our duties and we had some time in between our second training of the day: Mass Event ushering at the Superdome.
After getting lost trying to find our way into the dome, we met up with Linda and her husband Randy who are leading the charge on ushering at the mass events. Can you say incredible! I feel so blessed to experience these huge spaces (convention center and Superdome) when hardly anyone is in there. It is both humbling and exciting knowing that the LCMS needs such large arenas to hold all their incredible youth. I cannot honestly say that any other church organizations do it bigger or better. As captains, we are to train the other ushering teams for mass events. Which means we get radios!! Importance at the gathering is shown through how many radios you have on your hip (or something like that). And we get radios.
We booked it back to the convention center (a mile away) for 7pm worship with all the staff of the gathering. We wanted to grab some dinner first, which we did at a place called Red Eye Grill just behind our hotel. We didn't anticipate how long it would take and walked in a tad late to worship, but the chicken fingers and fries were top notch. Plus Worshipping with all the other workers of the Gathering was AWESOME!!! I love being surrounded by so many other Lutherans. I am very proud to be who I am here.
After worship we walked down to the famous Cafe du Monde for Beignets (pronounced ben-yays, which are small, holeless donut type desserts, buried [and I truly mean buried] by powdered sugar). And since we were already in the area, we took a quick jaunt down bourbon street. I don't know what to say about that, except that I will probably never go back. It is just all about alcohol and debauchery. But, it was something that needed to be experienced while in New Orleans.
Now to the realizations of the day and the importance of this blog. Number one, I don't remember the last time I had this much fun. Honestly, probably not since the last gathering. I had some reservations coming into the week. I didn't know what to expect, didn't know anyone and wasn't sure I was going to like being a worker instead of a participant. But, I don't remember being so happy. And the Gathering hasn't even started yet!! All of that leads me to my second realization. I am seriously thinking about youth ministry again as a possible career course. I would love to work within the LCMS church in a young adult or youth ministry capacity. Next realization, God creates the most beautiful sunrises (I already knew this, but I am reaffirmed every time I see one). Last (serious) realization, this gathering is going to be incredible. My home church youth flew in last night. One of them had never flown before and survived that. She was pretty excited, I have no doubt. I hope I can meet up with them today and get their first experiences and impressions.
Now to teh not-so-serious realizations. One, Flagstaff doesn't even let homeless individuals sleep in our forests and New Orleans lets them sleep practically anywhere there is flat ground. Saw no less than 3 or 4 dudes this morning on anything from door stoops, to benches, to stairs of the Harrah's casino. Saturday morning in New Orleans is a far cry from Friday morning. No one was out yesterday at 530am. Today, tons were still out after a long night of partying. It was hardly the same city. Third, water doesn't get cold here. When I get back from my run, I am hot. I can't even take a cold shower to cool off. The water was luke warm at best. And lastly, I have never sweat more in my life. I always tend to say in my head, "check out that guy, his shirt [or shorts] are soaked! Goober). I was the goober today. You can't even tell how much you are sweating until you enter the air conditioning of the hotel. The air, with humidity is almost the same temp as your sweat and it does nothing to cool you off. I made the mistake of running with a shirt on yesterday, and needless to say, it is still largely damp after a day lying on our hotel room floor. And my shorts this morning are half soaked. Gross.
Anyway, another day down and one closer to the end of the gathering. Gathering kicks off this evening with our first Mass Event. There are going to be huge surprises in store for these youth. Some of which I know about and others of which I am still in the dark. Either way, nothing can compare and I am already planning to come back in 3 years. And as I have already said, the gathering hasn't even officially began yet.
If you have read this far, first off, thanks!! And secondly, the mass events are going to be streamed live at lcmsgathering.com. They begin at 7:30pm CST. That's 5:30pm AZ time or 8:30pm EST. Experience it with us!! Til tomorrow!

NYG YAV Day 1...

Well, yesterday started off as any day starts off...the sun came up. Who would have thought? The difference was that I was up before it...WAY before it. I had to catch a flight to the 2010 LCMS National Youth Gathering in New Orleans and my ticket said the plane would leave with or without me at 6:40am. That meant a 2:15am wake up call (or alarm) and a drive to the low Arizona desert. I am not going to bog this blog down with useless details about my flights because, to be honest, it all went incredibly smooth. I had a lay over in Nashville, TN. Which is a place I had never been before. I was amazed, as always, at how green everything is in the South/Midwest/East...pretty much anywhere but the West.
My connector flight from Nashville to New Orleans was packed with youth groups from all over making their way, albeit a day early, to New Orleans. I can only imagine (no allusion intended to the 2003 Gathering "Beyond Imagination" theme) how overloaded the airlines are going to be today and tomorrow as the rest of the approximately 20,000+ youth travel down here. I sat next to a friendly gentleman named John from Kansas. They were bringing a handful of youth and he and his wife were chaperoning the event for the first time. He sounded incredibly excited and I don't think he will be disappointed.
We lucked out on our room accommodations as we only have 3 in our room (meaning no sharing of beds or sleeping on the floor for anyone). We all have the same job (which was purposely done to avoid schedule conflicts if everyone had different jobs) and are from all over the US.
We finally met "Orange Nation" (named due to the fact that our YAV shirts are orange) last night at our first training. Truthfully, though, it wasn't much training, just some bible study, ice breakers and games. For instance, the leader, Brandon "B-Wayne" Heath split the 350 or so of us into 4 groups within the conference room we were stationed at. He had us put our chairs in a circle and we played a game called "pile-up." Which goes a little something like this...Brandon would call out a characteristic or an event that happened to people and a direction to move, such as "If you flew here today, move 3 chairs to the right" or "If you are wearing flippie-floppies move 4 chairs to the left." If those instructions pertained to you, you would move down some chairs. Simple enough right? Then why do they call it "pile-up?" Well, if the person who is 3 chairs to the right, or 4 chairs to the left doesn't fit the characteristics that were called out, they were in the spot you needed to take. Which meant that you needed to sit on their lap. Didn't know anyone? You do now!!! The other part of the game makes it even harder and more awkward. If you sat on the lap of a person and the next characteristic called out pertains to the and not you, you still had to move with them because you were on their lap. So, for instance, if I was sitting on someone's lap and they had blond hair (I have brown) and Brandon called out "Blond hair, move 2 chairs to the right," I would have to move with them anyway because I was on their lap. We got to a point where there were stacks of 5,6, and 7 people all piled on top of each other's laps. It made for an interesting way of getting to know each other to say the least.
Anyway, awkward games and ice breakers aside, we heard a good opening lesson from Seth "the Rev" Moorman about Service while at the Gathering. We are here to serve and we should always strive to take the extra step, to think outside-of-the-box, to make the day and create memories for everyone we come into contact with while here at the Gathering just as Jesus was an "out-of-the-box" thinker. Taking fisherman, tax collectors and not the trained, educated Pharisees and Sadducees to be his disciples. He has created lasting memories. He has given us great service. We need to strive to be like him and serve in his name and not arrogantly.
This morning, I was up before the sun...again. I needed to get a run in. Never do I feel more blessed to live where I do than when I was running. It is humid, hot, stinky (literally) and paved everywhere. I miss the open spaces, fresh air, dry climate, bird calls, deer, pine trees. I miss my home town. I try never to take it for granted. New Orleans has already been quite an experience. I hope to learn more about, explore it and live it...for a week. And return home more grateful for everything I have and everything I am going to witness.
I will try and write every day about what I have experienced and what I am learning. Stay tuned...

Epic week cont....

I took the last month (June)to focus completely on running. I did zero swimming, save for the first week before the XTERRA Deuces Wild and very little riding except for some commuting to and from work. I feel like my running legs are returning and will continue to progress as my mileage and speed continue to increase. But, with that said, it is now 12 weeks out from the Halfmax National Championships in South Carolina on October 2nd. I haven't registered, I am still in limbo of whether I want to attend or not because of the price. But, I think it will be an incredible experience and I have an almost 100% chance (unless I can't finish) of qualifying for the Long Course World Championships in Las Vegas in 2011. The benefit of that is it is in my backyard. Only a 4 hour drive from homebase. I think consciously beginning to train for a race that I haven't registered for gives me my answer already.
That is all besides the point of this post. I wanted to talk about my week. The above information is all written to say that I have begun my intensive training again. And it has been an epic week. My goal was to climb Humphreys Peak on Sunday. I wasn't feeling so hot all day. Not sick, but not 100%. So, I decided to go for a run instead. But, Monday was a different day. On Monday, Humphreys was conquered once again, and it gained a new conquerer in my friend Lauren Cheema, who dominated the mountain. 9.6 miles roundtrip, 3000+ plus feet of elevation gain to the highest point in Arizona at 12,633ft. My legs were kind of sore the next day but I decided to go for a mountain bike ride. I headed for the other dominant feature of the Flagstaff landscape, Mt. Elden. Many of the trails on the mountain are still closed because of the Schultz Fire that is continuing to put a hamper on recreationists. But, I cruised up Brookbank trail to the upper portion of Sunset and reached the summit of the second highest peak in the region by bike. A couple hours later I was back on level ground and headed home with new views currently burned in my mind. Yesterday topped another climb of sorts. I had told Lauren on our way up to Snowbowl, after seeing so many cyclists climbing the road, that I needed to do that soon. Yesterday proved to be soo enough. I rode from my home, up Snowbowl road and back down. Even without much training, I completed the 7 mile climb with 220ft of elevation gain in a new PR (I think, can't remember ever going faster) of 34:49. Not bad for not riding in practically a month. Can't wait to do it again a few more times this summer. See how low I can go.
The week isn't quite over. I hope to continue this epic week. I have covered close to 10,000ft of elevation in the three treks. Plus swims and other runs and bikes that are not listed here. This new training block is starting excellently.

My beloved forest....

A letter sent to the Center for Biological Diversity.

To whom it may concern,
My name is Matt Boness. I appreciate the work you do to save our environment, and just like you, I agree to the final line of your mission statement, "We want those who come after us to inherit a world where the wild is still alive." As an avid mountain biker, hiker, trail runner and all around outdoor enthusiast, I can appreciate the outdoors for their pure beauty. But, I write this letter to let you know that you screwed up. I am sure you have gotten plenty of emails from other concerned Flagstaff, AZ residents after the local Daily Sun newspaper ran an article on why the Schultz Pass area was not thinned. My father is a 30 year forester and was called in to help battle the 15,000 acre blaze. It closed trails, torched thousands of acres of trees and currently has left the forest uninhabitable for animals. It also says within your misson statement that you use "science, law, and creative media" to protect "the lands, waters, and climate that species need to survive." I don't know what kind of science you were using to halt the projected thinning of this forest in 2007, as the Daily Sun has made their readers aware. Having researched the slow decline of the health of our forests in the West, I can tell you that thinning is only recreating the natural, traditional forest landscape that was abundant 100 years ago. By removing certain trees and reintroducing cool, ground fires to the area, as was the traditional role of fire, the habitat becomes healthier and more nutrient rich, which allows for more diverse growth and a more overall healthy forest.
I was also impacted by the Hardy fire that plagued my great town the day before the Schultz fire started. My household was put on standby for evacuation as smoke billowed over our house. Two weeks have passed since containment of the blaze and I have taken my morning jogs through the burned areas. With no formal training, but with years of experience gained from a father who is one of the great foresters in Arizona, I can tell you that without thinning in the Hardy burn area, houses would have been lost. The fire burned hot through the canopies of the trees and it does not take a trained eye to see that, where there was no thinning, the trees have become blackened matchsticks. But, where the thinning projects had occured, the fire still killed plenty of trees, but the canopies are still intact. When a fire burns that hot, on a windy day much like the one when it started, embers can fly up to a mile ahead of the fire and create new spot fires. I say, with little doubt, that had the forest not been thinned in that area, the fire would have continued trudging through the forest and could have potentially burned the houses of those who had been evacuated. This scenario is all hypothetical of course, but any educated person can see the difference in the fire behavior between a thinned and non-thinned forest.
With proper forest management, the devastation of the Schultz fire could have been largely mitigated. As your mission statement makes clear, you want to "protect the lands, waters and climate that species need to survive." But, I think it is obvious that you did nothing to protect the lands that are now torched and burned. The beauty of the area is lost for decades, perhaps longer. The once abundant shade of our poderosa pines is now gone. The grasses, shrubs and soil grabbing vegetation that stopped devastating erosion from wiping away our mountainside is now gone. Monsoons are lurking and the people of the evacuated neighborhoods are now facing landslides and mud flows instead of flame. This fire was incredibly close to burning through the Flagstaff watershed on the San Francisco Peaks. Which could have largely ruined the water resources that our town desperately needs to survive. All the sediment washed away from the looming rains will now wash into the streams that once flowed clear and filled resevoirs for animals to drink. The sediment, boulders, and downed debris has potential to clog normal flows and flood areas that are not used to the large increase of water. You are batting "oh for two" right now on maintaing your mission statement. Climate. I think it is no surprise that with trees, grass, and vegetation gone, the animals cannot inhabit the forest. The large amounts of CO2 that the smoke released is clearly not helpful in battling climate change. The trees lost cannot produce life saving oxygen anymore. The whole climate is different now. Not to mention, those who responsibly access the forest, the bikers, hikers, bird watchers, campers and sight seers, are banned from the forest they love. Many may not return to face the devastation that took the beauty out of their respite in the woods.
The choice was to cut a small percentage of trees. We lost almost all of them. By stopping the thinning of our forests, we face catastrophe that your center doesn't have to face. We have to look at the scarred and charred forest every day. We have to rehab the forest. And in a worse case scenario, homes could have been lost. Thankfully none were, because you would be facing an even larger backlash. Please, use science, law and creative media to make the right decisions.
Sincerely,
Matt Boness