Kudos to Jerry Neff for a great Iowa LTE in the Des Moines Register: Letters to the Editor By REGISTER READERS July 14, 2004 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ No more roads in remaining wild forests I was dismayed to hear the Bush administration took steps again to undermine historic protections for the nation's last remaining wild forests. The administration announced it would seek to rewrite the Forest Service's widely popular roadless rule. These proposed changes will leave countless acres of the country's most pristine forested areas at risk and go against the protections demanded by the American people. To date, an unprecedented 2 million-plus Americans have expressed support for the roadless rule and for protecting these special places and the wildlife habitat, clean water and recreational opportunities they provide. Since taking office, the Bush administration has repeatedly whittled away at the core of the wild-forest policy and failed to defend it in court while simultaneously promoting intensive logging as a remedy for forest fires. There are already more than 440,000 miles of roads that scar our national forests - roads built for the logging industry and paid for with tax dollars that have destroyed wildlife habitats, caused mudslides and polluted the water. We have enough roads. It is time to safeguard the last wild forests. I hope the Bush administration will begin to listen to the overwhelming majority of Americans rather than to big logging corporations. -Gerald Neff, chairman, Eagle View Group, Sierra Club, Pleasant Valley. ___________________________________________________ Lyle R. Krewson Sierra Club Conservation Organizer 6403 Aurora Avenue #3 Des Moines, IA 50322-2862 515/276-8947 515/238-7113 - cel [log in to unmask] ___________________________________________________ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask]