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. 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 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask]