DC Public Lands Action Update
May-02 Issue
· Bush administration ignores Wilderness in the Tongass
· The Administration won't implement the Roadless rule- will Congress?
· We won this Arctic battle but war still going on
· Defense bill threatens species and Utah wildlands
· Monuments on the Move
TONGASS IN TROUBLE
On May 17, 2002, the Bush Administration failed a major test on protecting
roadless areas in America's national forests when it released the Tongass
Wilderness Plan. The Forest Service chose a "no action" alternative, which
heavily favors the commercial timber industry over other users of the
Tongass by recommending no new Wilderness. The Administration's
recommendations were presented as the "preferred alternative" of a
court-ordered wilderness review. The plan, if finalized later this year,
would keep nearly 3 million acres of old-growth temperate rainforest in
roadless areas of the Tongass open to timber companies for roadbuilding and
logging.
We are urging the Forest Service to instead choose "Alternative 6," a plan
that would permanently protect the remaining Tongass old growth forest by
banning clearcut logging and roadbuilding. Public comments on the draft
wilderness plan will be accepted until August 17 and the Forest Service is
expected to issue its final decision later this year.
To Check out the plan: http://www.tongass-seis.net/index.html
The public has 90 days to comment
The development of the new Tongass Wilderness Plan provides us with a great
opportunity to help safeguard the remaining unprotected temperate
old-growth wildlands on the Tongass and highlight - once again - the
public's support for roadless forests. The Forest Service expects to issue
its final decision sometime late this year.
To TAKE ACTION to Protect the Tongass
WRITE: the U.S. Forest Service and urge them to adopt the Tongass
Wilderness Plan Alternative #6 ? Alaska Rainforest Conservation Wilderness
proposal.
Urge the Forest Service to support permanent protection for roadless areas
in the Tongass National Forest. Ask the Forest Service to choose
Alternative 6, which will protect Alaska's Tongass National Forest for the
enjoyment of future generations by banning clearcut logging and
roadbuilding.
Dennis Bschor, Alaska Regional Forester
U.S.D.A. Forest Service,
c/o Sierra Club, 201 Barrow Street, Ste. 101,
Anchorage, AK 99501.
NO TIME TO WRITE: EMAIL
http://whistler.sierraclub.org/action/tamain?alid=86
For more information on the Tongass Campaign
http://www.sierraclub.org/wildlands/tongass.
YOU CAN'T KEEP A GOOD FOREST POLICY DOWN
Roadless Protection is Back
Anytime now we will have a new bill introduced in congress to implement the
Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
Reps. Inslee (D-WA) and Boehlert (R-NY) have announced plans to introduce
"The National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act," to protect threatened
wild roadless areas by codifying the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
Congress is showing strong support for the Roadless Rule with many original
cosponsors. Now is a great time to call your representatives while they are
in their districts and ask them to join the bills cosponsors. The bill
could be introduced as soon as June 5th. Stay tuned.
In conjunction with our coalition partners, we are hosting a Save Our Wild
Forests Week in D.C. from June 10-12. People will be coming out to do
education on the Hill about Wild forests.
SENATE SCORES GREAT VICTORY BY PROTECTING ARCTIC REFUGE-
BATTLE NOT OVER YET!
In a big victory for America's environment, on April 18th 54 Senators
rejected a proposal to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling! This decisive vote was a stinging rebuke
for one of the Bush Administration's top domestic priorities. Moreover,
the victory is a testament to the tremendous outpouring of grassroots
activism in support of protecting the Arctic Refuge. The Sierra Club's
grassroots network really kicked into high gear across the county educating
their neighbors and the press, writing and calling and meeting directly
with their Senators. With the Sierra Club turning up the heat back home,
the Senate Democratic leadership was able to prevail in safeguarding this
national treasure despite heavy lobbying by the Bush administration and the
oil industry.
While the Senate staved off attempts to include Arctic Refuge drilling in
its version of an energy bill, the House version, which is dramatically
worse, does include a drilling provision. This discrepancy will have to be
reconciled in a conference committee. So though we have one victory under
our belt, it is possible that the conference may produce a bill with an
Arctic drilling provision back in.
Despite the Senate's rejection of Arctic Refuge drilling, we cannot support
the bill in its current form. While the Senate energy bill began as a
promising plan, polluters plundered the bill. Now the Senate bill utterly
fails to meet America's energy needs, and instead sends America backward.
The Senate bill:
- Saves virtually no oil;
- Hardly increases renewable energy;
- Eliminates safeguards that protect consumers from Enron-like
manipulations; and
- Gives billions of dollars in subsidies to dirty coal and oil, and
dangerous nuclear power.
Our activists around the country should applaud their senators who voted to
protect the arctic refuge from drilling. Urge your senators to continue to
fend off future attacks on the Arctic and reject this inadequate energy
bill should it emerge from the conference without dramatic changes.
To see how your senator voted check:
www.sierraclub.org/votewatch/2002/arctic.asp
For the latest information on the Arctic Refuge check:
www.sierraclub.org/wildlands
Defense Bill Threatens Species and Utah Wildlands
In May, despite vigorous opposition from the conservation community, the
House of Representatives approved a bill that would exempt the Department
of Defense from crucial endangered species protection requirements on the
25 million acres of land it manages, and would threaten unique wilderness
lands in Utah.
The Bush Administration actively lobbied for the exemption, arguing that it
was necessary for national security. The truth is, the exemption is
unnecessary and needlessly tosses out an effective system that balances the
nation's needs for species conservation with a strong national defense.
Currently under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Secretary of Defense
may request an exemption from any of the law's provisions if he believes
their implementation conflicts with national security. The request must be
granted and is not subject to court challenge. To date, no Secretary of
Defense has ever requested such an exemption under the law. The system
ensures that exemptions from the ESA are given only when national security
concerns clearly outweigh concerns for species conservation or when
comparable conservation measures are in place. The Bush Administration
proposal as passed by the House removes this balance, preventing the ESA
from working as designed and placing our natural heritage at unnecessary
risk.
The Defense bill passed by the House also includes a bogus Utah Wilderness
provision. Under the guise of "wilderness designation," the provision
provides little or no protection for pristine wilderness-quality lands in
Utah's Great Basin. It also undermines the Wilderness Act with poor
management language and by giving unprecedented control over wilderness to
the Department of Defense, disingenuously draped in the cloak of "national
security." Among other bad wilderness provisions, the Defense bill could
give unprecedented control over BLM lands (including wilderness areas) to
the Department of Defense; explicitly denies a crucial federal reserved
water right for the new "wilderness" designated in the provision; and allow
the Department of Defense to unilaterally restrict public access from all
wilderness and wilderness study areas within the Utah Test and Training
Range.
Endangered Species Recovery Act, H.R. 4579
In April, the Sierra Club celebrated the re-introduction of the Endangered
Species Recovery Act (ESRA), a set of responsible amendments to the
Endangered Species Act that would improve America's ability to conserve
it's natural heritage. Introduced by Congressmen George Miller (D-CA) and
Frank Pallone (D-NJ), along with 74 other co-sponsors, ESRA incorporates
recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences and other innovative
approaches to conserve America's at-risk wild resources. These include
exempting private landowners from the estate tax if they enter into an
agreement to conserve species on their property, beyond what the law
requires. ESRA also incorporates independent peer-review into the ESA
decision-making process, increases the level of flexibility federal
wildlife managers have in conserving endangered species habitat and
provides additional support to state natural resource agencies so they can
conserve species before they decline to the point of requiring the ESA's
protections. The Endangered Species Recovery Act is the common sense
alternative to proposals offered by some lawmakers that would weaken
America's ability to conserve its endangered species.
Currently, we are working to get more cosponsors on ESRA. To find out if
your Representative has joined to protect species go to
http://thomas.loc.gov/
http://www.sierraclub.org/wildlands/species/
How Should Your National Monuments be Managed?
After waiting for over a year, Interior Secretary Gale Norton began the
scoping comment period for 11 of our newest BLM National Monuments.
Activists in nine states have been gearing up for the planning process.
Many of the monuments haven't scheduled any scoping hearings yet. Meetings
have been scheduled for Craters of the Moon, Idaho and Arizona's Vermillion
Cliffs and Grand Canyon-Parashant National monuments. We will be doing
mailing, phonebanks, and email alerts to inform people about upcoming
hearing and comment deadlines.
You can go to "ABBY", our coalition's online tool, for more information on
each monument. Here you can find descriptions, scoping comments, timelines
and much more for each monument.
http://www.tws.org/standbylands/plantool/index.cfm
For more information call or email Jessica Hodge at 202.675.7910.
Forest Fires: Beyond the Heat and Hype
With fires already blazing in western American forests, the Sierra Club has
a report that examines how the federal government and the logging industry
have heightened the risk of catastrophic fires, and what the U.S. can do to
protect our homes and restore fire's natural role to our forests. The
report, Forest Fires: Beyond the Heat and Hype, delves into the natural
benefits of fires, outlines the threats to our forests, and presents
solutions to protect homes, defuse fire threats, and restore our forests'
health. The report is available online at
http://www.sierraclub.org/logging/report01 .
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