Calls Needed: Hearing on Walden Logging Bill Congressman Boswell is a member of the House Agriculture Committee--please call him with talking points printed below. Leonard L. Boswell, IA (202) 225-3806 From: Lisa Dix, American Lands Alliance Forwarded by Jane Clark The House Agriculture committee is planning on holding a hearing on the Walden Logging bill (HR 4200), this Wednesday November 7, 2005. Calls are needed to key Members of the House Agriculture Committee educating them about why they should not support the Walden logging bill. Walden's logging bill (the "Forest Emergency Recovery and Research Act") sweeps aside protections for forests, fish and wildlife in order to rush logging and roadbuilding after normal, natural events that occur in National Forests, such as fires and windstorms. The bill specifically waives the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for post-natural disturbance logging and cuts Americans out of decisions that would impact the public's forests. TAKE ACTION: Please call key Congressional leaders on the Agriculture Committee (phone numbers below) and tell them to oppose the Walden logging bill (HR 4200). When you call the office ask for the staff that works on National Forest issues. When you talk (or leave a message with the staff) be sure to tell them why they should oppose the bill. TALKING POINTS Walden Logging Bill Talking Points The Walden logging bill sweeps aside protections for forests, fish and wildlife in order to rush logging after normal natural events (such as rainstorms, fires, and droughts) on National Forests. The Walden logging bill eliminates meaningful environmental review and cuts the public out of decisions that would harm America's public forests. The bill waives the National Environmental Policy Act for damaging logging activities after normal natural events on National Forests. Logging after natural disturbances is not restoration or recovery. Logging these sensitive recovering forests degrades aquatic habitat through sediment runoff into streams, spreads invasive weeds, causes the loss of biological legacies, which include large live and dead trees that are vital in the recovery process. The Walden bill is not needed. After hurricane Katrina, one of the largest natural disturbance projects in forest service history, the Forest Service used existing authorities under the Healthy Forest Restoration Act to quickly implement projects without controversy in 90 days. According to the best available science there is no ecological emergency to log forests after normal, natural events on National Forests. Burned forests are not a "waste," it is the US Forest Service's "salvage" logging program that wastes tax dollars. ACTIVIST TOOLS For a copy of the Walden/Baird logging bill go to: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_bills&docid=f:h4200ih.txt.pdf For a factsheet on the Myths and Facts of the Walden/Baird logging bill prepared by NRDC please go to: http://www.americanlands.org/documents/1131128447_Walden bill myths and facts _2_.pdf For a copy of The Wilderness Society Analysis of the Walden/Baird logging bill go to: http://www.americanlands.org/documents/1131395420_Walden bill HR 4200 analysis.pdf For a copy of the American Lands report, After the Fires: Do No Harm in America's Forest, A Report on the Impacts of Logging on Forest Recovery: http://www.americanlands.org/issues.php?subsubNo=1085141603&article=1130855803 Lisa Dix National Forest Program Director American Lands Alliance [log in to unmask] Ph: 202-547-9105; Fax: 202-547-9213 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sign up to receive Sierra Club Insider, the flagship e-newsletter. Sent out twice a month, it features the Club's latest news and activities. Subscribe and view recent editions at http://www.sierraclub.org/insider/