The spirit of Eminent Domain is that no land ower should stand in the way of an infrastructure project. Even still, The land is not free for the taking. Under E.D., the govenrment is required to give "fair compensation" to the owner. In other words, the govenment can not simply take the land, but has the right to purchase land (even though it is not for sale).
What I am saying is this: If one purchases land, and does not have the right to make use of the land as he sees fit, then exactly what did he purchase? Its like your parents giving you a GI Joe for Christmas, but not allowing you to play with it because they hate war. In this case, what did you actually get for Christmas?
That is not to say that there should be no regulations. Regulations should cover the areas where other people's rights and liberties are impacted. A land owner, for example, should not be allowed to turn land into a toxic waste dump since that would impact the health and well being of others. Clearing privately own land for the purpose of farming would not overtly impact others.
Additionally, this is second growth timber. Second growth timber is planted to replennish what loggers have removed. There is only one reason why this was done in the past. So that there will be trees to cut down in the future! Well, the future is now.
