Bush Logging Plan and Tongass Rider Poised to Move Through Senate


Please call Senators Grassley and Harkin - Vote is Pending

TELL THEM:

1) SUPPORT Sen. Boxer's effort to strike the pro-logging Tongass rider, and

2) OPPOSE the Bush "Healthy Forests Initiative" and HR 1904.

** You can reach Senators through the Capitol Hill switchboard at
(202)224-3121 and at www.senate.gov**!

OR TRY CALLING TOLL FREE: 1-800-839-5276

The US Senate is taking up the Interior Appropriations bill tomorrow and
will discuss two important National Forest issues. First, the Interior
appropriations bill was burdened with a rider that would promote logging in
roadless areas in the Tongass rainforest.  Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) will
make a motion to strike the Tongass rider and needs your help.

Also, the Bush Administration's ill-named "Healthy Forests Initiative"
could be offered as an amendment to the bill. This pro-logging initiative,
now contained in HR 1904, would greatly increase logging under the guise of
fire management. The Republican leadership is having a hard time raising
the 60 votes they need to overcome a filibuster and so the Administration
is trying to attach their bad bill as a rider to the Interior
Appropriations bill. The Bush administration is not only dedicated to a
harmful fire policy but they are willing to abuse the legislative process
to try and get it through the Congress.

The Bush logging plan misses on all of the major components that a
responsible, science-based, community protection plan should have. The US
Forest Service Fire Research lab has found that the best method to protect
homes from a forest fire is by creating defensible space 100 feet around a
home and 500 meters around communities. Certainly, the administration can
do better than this! For information on real home safety and responsible
fire management see www.sierraclub.org/forests and www.firewise.org

For more information on National Forests and responsible community
protection see www.sierraclub.org/forests

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