For the last three months, we have awakened to the sounds of heavy equipment clearing trees in the neighborhood.

Hundreds and hundreds of acres have been cleared from Frank Bruce Road through to Hwy. 136 and further west just below Hwy. 9.

I wonder why permits are issued to allow such devastation.

After researching several Web sites, one finds that:

Logging often destroys natural habitats, resulting in the loss of biodiversity and sometimes leading to the local, and possibly global, extinction of species.

Beside the implications of large-scale logging for global warming, drastic changes in precipitation are direct and immediate when the forest cover is removed.

Unsustainable logging mobilizes debris that finds its way into the streams and rivers.

Is this what the citizens of Dawson County want? Who is being allowed to sell their trees for monetary gain? What will be the long-term environmental impact on our county?

Susan Baldwin

Dawson County