Air Date: Week of October 11, 1996

Listeners react to last week's query and features.

Transcript

CURWOOD: And now it's time to hear from you, our listeners. Jane Day, a listener to Maine Public Broadcasting, called about our story last week on the Clinton Administration's land swap proposal to protect the ancient headwaters redwood forest in Northern California.

DAY: I am absolutely shaken by the thought of the redwood trees being destroyed. I feel like this is a living monument. This is our legacy. I would rather see them cut down the Washington Monument; I mean that's nothing but mortar.

CURWOOD: Pepper Trail, a listener to KSOR in Ashland, Oregon, called to say the proposed government land swaps have great potential.

TRAIL: However, the devil is in the details, and in the case of the headwaters forest in California, I think clearly that Charles Hurwitz and Maxxam Corporation have gotten the best of the government because of extreme political pressure on the Clinton Administration to make a deal, any deal, in order to be able to present the environmental community with the appearance of having worked hard to preserve this irreplaceable national resource.

CURWOOD: On the other hand, Nils Olsson sees a dark side. Mr. Olsson, who tunes into Living on Earth on KALW in San Francisco, fears that companies may actually buy and then threaten land like the headwaters in order to get a very sweet land swap deal from the government. He writes, "This sounds to me like a kidnapper threatening to kill a hostage and getting ransom in exchange. And then killing another hostage."