Please contact your Senators today with this action alert. They will
vote Thursday, June 26, and again next month on whether to protect our
National Forests.
Problem:
The so-called "Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003" passed the House
and is now in the Senate Agriculture Committee. Under this legislation,
the Forest Service could log old-growth forests just by asserting that
it is necessary for fuels reduction or to combat beetles--and the bill
restricts our right to comment on any environmental consequences of the
project.
Solution:
Senators Coleman and Dayton both sit on the Agriculture Committee which
will hear this bill on Thursday, June 26. Then they will vote again
next month if the bill goes to the full Senate.
Deadline for responding:
Please take action by Thursday, June 26.
*****************************************
Message to senators:
The Bush Administration continues to use last year's dramatic fire
season--and now the fires commencing this summer--to advance timber
industry proposals. However, forest scientists--including Forest Service
researchers--have repeatedly found that the type of logging proposed by
HR 1904 can actually increase fire risk.
Minnesota's Superior and Chippewa National Forests are revising forest
plans right now--including plans for 7,373 acres of prescribed burns
annually,
and 42,000 acres of fuel reduction management annually. Why legislate this
from Washington, when the local process is already working on the ground with
input from local loggers, industries, and concerned citizens?
Please reject HR 1904, the so-called "Healthy Forests" bill, in the
Senate Agriculture Committee, and in any debate on the Senate floor.
Please recognize that this bill is a giveaway to multinational timber
and paper companies. It will not help Minnesota workers, and is bad for
Minnesota's forests.
* HR 1904 does not protect communities at risk from forest fire, by
prioritizing fuel-reduction projects near them.
* The bill weakens our most important environmental protection, the
National Environmental Policy Act, by allowing the Forest Service to conduct
large, environmentally damaging logging projects without considering any
alternatives or their relative environmental impacts.
* It would exclude the public from decisions made about public lands and
eliminate the statutory right of citizens to appeal Forest Service
logging projects.
* HR 1904 would impose unprecedented limitations on judicial review and
give lawsuits challenging Forest Service projects priority over virtually all
other civil and criminal litigation.
****************************
Thank you!
Have a great day,
Joshua Davis
Forestry Organizer, Sierra Club
2327 Franklin Ave, Suite 1
Minneapolis, MN 55406
612-659-9124
612-659-9129 FAX
Erin E. Jordahl
Director, Iowa Chapter Sierra Club
3839 Merle Hay Road, Suite 280
Des Moines, IA 50310
515-277-8868
[log in to unmask]
www.iowa.sierraclub.org
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