Please write an LTE using this sample letter and/or contact Congressman 
Leach to urge him to oppose Rep. Greg Walden's logging bill (HR 4200) which 
would remove basic protections for clean water and wildlife habitat by 
cutting meaningful environmental review and excluding public involvement. 
This harmful bill has passed the House Resources and Agriculture committees 
and could see a vote in early May.

Not only is this legislation a gross example of misplaced priorities--it is 
not needed. About 35% of the total timber volume from National forests last 
year came from "salvage" timber sales. This bill would waive the Endangered 
Species Act and NEPA, the National Environmental Policy Act. Congress and 
the Bush administration have given the Forest Service and Bureau of Land 
Management all of the authority it needs to plan timber sales. The House 
should oppose this unneeded legislation.Â
I suggest you use only parts of the sample letter or the facts mentioned 
above to make a brief and concise statement why HR 4200 should be opposed.

Thanks, Jerry Neff, member of Sierra Club's National Forest Protection and 
Restoration Committee.

**Sample Long LTE/OP-ed: Walden Salvage Logging Bill   ~300 words

Please use this sample letter to help draft your own LTE or Op-ed. For more 
background information see sierraclub.org/forests

Dear Editor,

Contrary to the Bush administration’s insistence, there is no ecological 
emergency to log National Forests after normal natural events.

Bush administration allies in Congress are pushing a proposal which would 
fast track destructive logging projects in National Forests impacted by 
natural disturbances such as fires, droughts, or windstorms.  This 
destructive logging proposal, would remove basic protections for clean water 
and wildlife habitat by cutting meaningful environmental review and 
excluding the public from the decision making processes.  Their plan is a 
misguided attempt to manufacture a "crisis" where there isn't one and 
promote the Bush administration’s agenda of increasing subsidized 
commercial logging on our National Forests.

Proponents of this plan claim that they need to expedite logging projects to 
prevent the wasting of valuable trees, which have been burned or blown down 
in a storm, and help these sensitive areas recover more quickly after a 
disturbance.  However, scientific research does not support those claims.  
Logging a burned area is extremely damaging to a forest ecosystems because 
it compacts fragile soils, damages fish habitat and degrades water quality 
in streams by creating sediment run off, spreads invasive and noxious weeds, 
and removes live trees as well as dead and downed trees, which are essential 
to the ecological recovery of a disturbed area. The financial cost is also 
too high as taxpayers end up subsidizing timber sales that don't re-coup the 
amount that the Forest Service spent planning them.

Congress and the Forest Service should focus instead on protecting 
American’s homes and communities from fire and promoting real ecological 
restoration.  Forest Service research clearly shows that the best way to 
protect homes and communities is responsible fuels reduction projects within 
the 500 meter Community Protection Zone.  No community should be left at 
risk while the Bush administration and the Forest Service waste money and 
time on unnecessary salvage logging projects.

Sincerely,

Name
Address
Daytime Phone Number

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