'It hurts to see the forest's current state'

Jim Rathbun has spent his life in the forests. To say he loves the woodlands is like saying Michael Phelps is a good swimmer.

Rathbun, 78, was Kootenai National Forest Supervisor for six years, from 1983 to ’90. 

Rathbun began his career with the U.S. Forest Service in 1957 as a smoke jumper. Along the way, he got a forestry degree from the University of Idaho and worked his way to the top, until his retirement on Dec. 30, 1989.

“I retired because I couldn’t take it anymore,” Rathbun said. “That was 23 years ago. It just hurts to see the forest’s current state.”

Rathbun, who now spends much of his time fishing, said the Forest Service is not really managing the woodlands anymore, and that’s a source of consternation for him.

“The (KNF) has a potential of growing 400 million board feet a year. We’re harvesting about 20 million (board feet), if that. How long do you think that can go on before we have a problem?” Rathbun said. “We’re seeing it now. We’ve got timber lying all over the forests. Those are assets that should be logged, and we’re not..

“We’re not managing the forests anymore,” Rathbun said. “We’re just letting them grow.”

Asserting the preservationists’ thinking about what is wrong with seemingly never-ending mountains of greenscape, and Rathbun said that would be fine if that’s what’s left. However, Rathbun said, that’s not what now exists.

“Go east of here, the forests are not green, they’re gray. Gray or red. They preservationists say they want old-growth timber, but that’s what happens when it’s not managed. You get mountainsides of gray, dead timber,” Rathbun said.

“Forests need to be managed: You monitor, you assess, cut and then you plant. We’re just not doing that anymore.”

During the interview, it became apparent, Rathbun felt a great sense of relief in saying these things, getting items off his chest.

He said he saw the forest philosophy changing in the waning years of his career, and he blames it on the preservationists.

“The Service used to be a multiple-use agency, but it’s not that anymore. It really came to a head when Al Gore was elected vice president,” Rathbun said. “We saw a wildlife biologist put in charge of the Service. He didn’t know forestry. He knew biology. He was a preservationist.

“Preservationists liked to make us prove this or that. They always like to ask you a question you can’t answer,” Rathbun said. “We managed forests, period.”

Rathbun said preservationists ultimately changed the Forest Service.

“There was an unwillingness of the Forest Service to stand up to preservationists and the (presidential) administration, too,” Rathbun said. “That led to changes in the whole philosophy.”

Rathbun does not blame those current employees of the Forest Service.

“They’re doing their job,” he said. “They’re doing what they think is right. It’s not their fault, it’s the agency’s fault. If you ask me, the Forest Service is a failed agency.”

Asked whether he thought his comments may be construed as those of an anti-government activist, Rathbun quickly downplayed the notion.

“I’m not an activist,” he said, responding quickly. “I’m a source for activists — a source for those people who want to be activists.”

So, why come out now, Rathbun was asked, long after he walked away from government service.

“I’m worried about Libby and the forests,” he said. “We are in serious danger of fires right near town. There is so much (deadfall) in the woods that we couldn’t fight a fire here.”

Rathbun is concerned, too, about budget cuts that are limiting road access to the back-country, greatly limiting the Service’s ability to get to remote areas to fight fires.

“We’re creating a fire hazard here. Back in the day, if we had a fire, Initial Response was so critical. Everyone in the office would drop what they’re doing and fight the fire,” Rathbun said. “The Forest Service doesn’t have the numbers (people) to do that kind of Initial Response.”

He also said years ago there was great cooperation in fighting fires.

“The loggers had (bull)dozers that we could count on in the event of a fire. We could get five dozers to a fire in no time. Nowadays, I wonder whether there are five dozers in the county,” he said referring to the lessening of the timber industry.

“Yes, I’m concerned. I’m concerned for my family and neighbors,” said Rathbun who has been married to his wife, Julie, for 54 years.

The Rathbuns have five children and nine grandchildren.

Upon the conclusion of the interview, Rathbun was asked to sit for a photograph, which he declined.

“Oh, I don’t need a photo taken,” he said. “People know what I look like. Besides, this is not about me. It’s about the forests.”

   Editor’s footnote: Current KNF Supervisor Paul Bradford was asked to comment on Rathbun’s assertions, which Bradford declined.