Salvageable

Posted by Peppin on June 27, 2003

Not so many years ago the immense fires that blackened the dense forests on the Bitterroot Mountains south of here would have been labeled an unmitigated disaster, millions of board feet of timber down the drain. Many of the trees that were salvageable would have been quickly logged.

This is the first paragraph of a news story of New York Times. On understanding the last sentence, we formed two opinions:

1. The trees that were salvageable were not quickly logged, so they were actually devoured by the fire.

2. The trees that were salvageable were not quickly logged, so they were saved.

www.fs.fed.us/rm/main/pa/newsclips/02_01/012902_logging.html

The above is the link to the full story. Please help us to sort it out. Some of us are really confused. Thank you very much!

non-native speakers

• Salvageable R. Berg 06/28/03