Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Not smoke in their eyes

Friday, Jan. 29, 1999 | 11:59 a.m.

SMOKEY BEAR has always had a special place in my heart and so have all the men and women who wear the uniform of the U.S. Forest Service. In the past, I haven't seen any part of this fine organization harboring nitpickers and petty bureaucratic politicians. Now the treatment former Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest Supervisor Jim Nelson is receiving from some of his agency land appraisers and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of the Inspector General tells me there's plenty wrong in Smokey's den. The stench coming from unproven accusations against Nelson and Harriet Burgess, who heads up the American Land Conservancy, tells me that the air in the forest may be pure but the intentions of a few bureaucrats is badly polluted.

The last time I wrote about Jim Nelson was in 1995 when he and Carson District Ranger Guy Pence received the 1994 Public Land Managers of the Year Award from the California Mule Deer Association. The award was made by Dano McGinn outside the district office that had been bombed a few months earlier. Pence remarked, "We have been blown up, but we won't be blown away." Little did he and Nelson realize that their biggest enemies would be a few bureaucrats from within their own agency.

When making the award in 1995, McGinn told the audience, "The Toiyabe National Forest, particularly the Carson Ranger District, has distinguished itself by exhibiting the highest commitment to a land ethic and stewardship of the public's natural resources. The Toiyabe has proven willing to make the hard management decisions necessary to ensure the protection of habitat for current and future generations of wildlife and Americans.

"In these troubled times, it is fitting that we present this small token of our service and heartfelt appreciation for your responsible and courageous management. In so doing, you and the Toiyabe National Forest have earned the trust and support of a widely diverse public."

This year, Ted Williams, writing in the Fly Rod & Reel magazine, says, "Jim Nelson, who retired last February, was the best the Forest Service had, a fearless champion of fish and wildlife. He stood tall on the range, facing down powerful bullies. He slugged it out with county supremacists who tested federal resolve by bulldozing illegal roads through Forest Service land and flouting grazing regulations. In one case he rounded up trespassing cattle and sold them at auction. While other forest supervisors were awaiting retirement, Jim Nelson was hustling around the countryside cutting land deals, adding 60,000 acres to our forest. Above all, he excelled at purchasing and rehabilitating ruined trout streams."

McGinn and Williams both describe the strength and honesty of the Jim Nelson I have come to know as he worked to protect the forests, mountains, streams and wildlife habitat in Nevada. So what's the big problem and why was Nelson transferred to a desk in Ogden, Utah, before he retired?

A little research quickly shows Nelson's purchase and land exchanges for Deer Creek lands in the nearby Spring Mountains has upset Forest Service appraisers. A list of charges about the acquisition of the Deer Creek land has been thoroughly and completely answered by the American Land Conservancy. In fact, the answers are so clear and concise it makes a reader question the competence of the Forest Service's appraisers and wonder why the Office of the Inspector General hasn't wrapped up the case and put it in the garbage can where it belongs. In the meantime, all land exchanges in the Silver State are on hold. That's until the Department of Agriculture completes its "investigation," which shouldn't continue indefinitely.

Williams, in his article, quotes world renowned conservationist David Brower's evaluation of the entire mess. "Can it be that elements of the Forest Service at and near the top, snug in the comfort of all too many decades in bed with timber-levelers, miners, and grazers (a situation we can hope will be corrected by the likes of Forest Service chief Mike Dombeck and new deputy chief Bob Joslin), can't even recognize decency? Jim Nelson embodied it. ... Great things were achieved during (his) tenure in the form of immensely valuable land acquisitions for the American people; the real scandal is that he was forced out of his job for doing the right things."

Nevada hasn't lost Jim Nelson as a resident but our natural environment has lost a friend. Yes, it can only be protected by a person who understands, loves and has the courage of Jim Nelson to defend it. They don't come down the road very often but Nevada is lucky to have experienced one of them.

Tears must be streaming from the eyes of my old friend Smokey Bear and all of the fine forest rangers and supervisors I have come to admire over the years. This time the tears aren't from smoke, but from shame and anger.