Why is the destruction of Pine trees not an issue of environmental concern -- but "ipe" wood is?

June 6, 2014

In the recent Opinion Page Ed Sheppard thanks Councilman Michael DeVlieger for wanting to once again reconsider the use of “ipe” and then also goes on and does a great job of explaining the history of the use of pine wood versus “ipe” wood on our boardwalk including short time frame and repeated maintenance costs of pine.

Mr. Sheppard states, “it is better for our environment if we only have to cut down enough trees to redeck the boardwalk, truck the lumber in and redeck every 6 decades instead of every 6 years, which puts it right back in the discussion. Hardwood has an economic shelf life that we cannot ignore.”

In his letter he continues and is absolutely correct, especially if our elected officials and the so called environmentalist would have taken the time in 2007 and now in 2014 to go again to the National Geographic September 2007 issue cover story  “Amazon Forest to Farms –Battle to stop the land grab.”

Again, I will repeat the boardwalk that was done with “ipe”wood more than twenty years ago is in A-1 condition with no maintenance over that period of time—consider the costs and waste of pine material in the remaining boardwalk. Which is more cost effective? In my considered opinion the hard wood wins hands down.

In this issue there was also a second letter written by Michael Hinchman one I support fully; the reason being in my humble opinion the Editor is in  the same category as our elected officials (prior and current). In my opinion he also did not take the time to read the article in National Geographic. I would hope he would take the time now to read the issue and discuss only the merits of the hardwood versus softwood and not take the comments of a handful of misinformed environmentalist as fact.

Hundreds of pine trees over a 60 year period versus a few hardwood trees over the same period – I believe the few trees are the environmental winners.

In closing I believe the Councilmen should be commended for his logic and reasoning to use a more durable product which will last a longer period of time and ultimately reduce costs.