From Sierra Club
DC Public Lands Action Update
Forest Issues
June 2003

Congress is Deep in the Woods

House Sends Bad Wildfire Legislation to the Senate

On May 20, the US House of Representatives approved legislation that
represents a major blow to Western communities who are looking to Congress
for help in protecting themselves from the threat of wildfire. House
supporters of the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003 (HR 1904)
exploited the fear of fire to pass a provision that directly benefits the
timber industry-- while doing almost nothing to help the communities
threatened by fire. Not only is the bill based on false assumptions about
the impact of environmental reviews and legal appeals of fuel reduction
projects, it also unnecessarily weakens environmental protections and the
fundamental right of the public to participate in forest planning on
taxpayer-owned lands. In passing the McInnis bill, the House of
Representatives ignored concerns raised by dozens of groups and
individuals, including REP America, the national grassroots organization of
Republicans for Environmental Protection, National Organization for Women,
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, League of
Conservation Voters, and more than 50 county commissioners and other local
officials from across the nation.

During the month of June, the U.S. Senate is expected to take up similar
legislation. Visit http://www.sierraclub.org/logging for regular updates!


National Forest Protection and Restoration Act Reintroduced

In May, the Sierra Club welcomed the reintroduction of the National Forest
Protection and Restoration Act, a bill that helps preserve America's
natural heritage and save taxpayers money.  We applaud this bipartisan
group of 86 Representatives who support this bill, and we are especially
grateful to Representative Jim Leach (R-IA) for his vision. This bill will
help ensure that our children and grandchildren will inherit a legacy where
National Forests filter pollution out of the water, protect us from
flooding, provide wildlife habitat and a place to play and find a little
peace. By putting America's National Forests off-limits to commercial
logging, this bill will save taxpayers billions of dollars and would
redirect the money saved to restore forests and help diversify the
economies of communities that receive revenues from federal logging
activities. NFPRA sets forth a vision for America's forests, one that frees
up funds now wasted on commercial logging and dedicates these resources to
true restoration and community protection from fire.

Wild Forest Protection

After the largest public comment process in the history of the federal
government, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule was enacted in 2000 by
President Clinton and protects nearly 60 million acres of our Nation's last
remaining wild forests. Despite this overwhelming public support for
protecting our last wild forests, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule was
placed on hold by the Bush administration. Recent court rulings have made
the Rule the law of the land, but the administration remains intent upon
weakening the Rule. With yesterday's announcement weakening roadless area
protections, the Bush Administration has emblazoned a bull's-eye on
America's favorite unspoiled forests. The Forest Service claimed that while
it will retain the popular Roadless Area Conservation Rule in theory, it
will allow states pressured by the timber industry to exempt their from the
roadless policy. The Administration also announced it will file a lawsuit
settlement with the State of Alaska tomorrow to exempt the Tongass National
Forest from the roadless policy. Our wild forests deserve strong policy
protection! The Roadless Area Conservation Act, which seeks to use
legislation as a means for making the Rule federal law, was reintroduce
introduced in House of Representative on Thursday, June 5 by
Representatives Inslee (D-WA) and Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY). Senators
Cantwell (D-WA) and Warner (R-VA) also introduced a similar version of the
bill in the U.S. Senate.

Take Action:
Please call you Members of Congress and urge them to protect America's last
remaining wild forests by supporting the Inslee/Boehlert bill and opposing
any attempts made by the Bush administration to weaken the Roadless Area
Conservation Rule.
Call (202) 224-3121.

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