To the Journal editor:

Recently, The Mining Journal ran an article of the U.S. Forest Service closing all four of its research offices in Michigan. In the article, which described the positions using an acronym that to most suggested these people were in fact research scientists. A comment from Michigan Tech University stated these people are needed to make sure timber harvest is done using the best, most recent scientific data.

The reality is that after looking up exactly what the acronym stood for, I found that the people being relocated are actually “data analysts” and not field people. Analysis does not have to be done on site and having it centralized has many advantages. The boots on the ground will still be watching the harvest.

A second point is that most people feel the government has gotten too big and needs to be downsized. There is an old saying that says, “There is way too much pork in government” but then each representative says “But don’t gore my pig”. The country is way too deep in debt. We need to cut spending and sometimes it hits near home.