The Canvass Program is the Club's nationwide door-to-door conservation outreach and membership acquisition/donor development program. Specifically, the Canvass educates people on important environmental issues, garners support for Sierra Club conservation objectives and raises the visibility of the Sierra Club's campaigns and programs while acquiring new members, SIERRA subscribers and non-member donors. The Club continues to operate the Canvass Program with The Fund For Public Interest Research (The Fund), a public interest organization that has been running canvasses for non-profit organizations such as Sierra Club for over 20 years. SUMMER 2003 The Summer 2003 Canvass began in May with 19 offices across the country from Newton, MA to Seattle, WA. In May, the Canvass transitioned from the ARCTIC theme and began talking to the public about the current threats to our NATIONAL FORESTS and NATIONAL MONUMENTS. As you know, the Bush Administration is working to undo a broad range of protections for our country's wildlands. Our National Forests and the clean water, wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities they provide are at risk from increased logging and weakened environmental protections. Recent Forest Service decisions have increased logging under the guise of fire protection and created loopholes in the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, a historic effort to protect almost 60 million acres of wild forests. Our newest National Monuments, such as Giant Sequoia and Canyons of the Ancients, also face a number of threats including increased logging and mining, off-road vehicle use and power line construction. Canvassers are carrying factsheets outlining these threats to our special places. For direct action, they are collecting signatures on postcards addressed to Senators asking them to reject any legislative or administrative measures that would lead to additional logging, mining or development of our National Forests and National Monuments. Canvassers are expected to collect over 50,000 signatures on these postcards to Senators. In April, Melinda Pierce (SC Lands Protection Team) briefed over 80 Regional Directors and local office Canvass Directors with an explanation of NATIONAL FOREST and MONUMENT issues at the Spring East Coast Canvass Director Training in Boston, MA. In May, Julia Reitan (SC Director of the Office of Volunteer & Activist Services) gave a briefing on NATIONAL FOREST and MONUMENT issues to over 40 Regional Directors and local office Canvass Directors at the Spring West Coast Canvass Director Training in Santa Barbara, CA. To date, the Summer 2003 Canvass has brought in over 5,500 new members, 3,000 SIERRA subscribers and 3,000 small donors. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To view the Sierra Club List Terms & Conditions, see: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/terms.asp