[BCNnet] Re: Virginia, A Logged Forest Is Not a Healthy Forest

[Gmurphy6@aol.com]

In a message dated 8/28/02 2:46:09 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
jane_danowitz@ourforests.org writes:

<< Last week, in a politically motivated response to this
 summer's wildfires, President Bush announced his Healthy
 Forests Initiative, a plan to weaken environmental
 safeguards and limit public input in the name of fire
 prevention. 
 
 President Bush wants to "streamline" or more accurately
 rollback the backbone of environmental protections,
 the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which
 was signed into law in 1970 by President Nixon. Under
 NEPA federal agencies are required to produce an Environmental
 Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement (EIS),
 which outlines the details of a project and several
 alternatives to a proposed project. NEPA requires the
 EA or EIS to explain the environmental impacts of a
 proposed project in order to give federal land managers
 the best scientific information on which they base
 their decisions concerning our national forests. 
 
 The Bush plan would allow logging projects, masked
 as fire prevention measures to skip the NEPA process,
 a misguided concept the timber industry and certain
 members of Congress have been attempting to push through
 for years. Dismantling NEPA would eliminate the public's
 opportunity to participate in many federal land projects
 and remove safeguards that ensure that public lands
 managers understand what impacts a particular project
 will have on our increasing threatened wild forests.
 
 While the Bush plan serves as a boon to corporate special
 interests, it fails to protect communities from fire.
 Additionally, Bush's plan would open millions of acres
 of national forest land to logging projects, under
 the guise of forest fire management.  
 
 An effective wildfire policy would address the problem
 where it exists, in forest communities and neighborhoods,
 not in remote forest wildlands. Under his plan, President
 Bush will allow his friends in the timber industry
 access to large, old trees -- which happen to be the
 most fire resistant trees -- located in the remote
 backcountry, miles away from the nearest community.
 
 Essentially, the President is suggesting that the best
 way to protect our forests is to log our forests. 
 
 We believe that Senators Larry Craig and Pete Domenici,
 long time friends of the timber industry and foes of
 NEPA, will introduce a version of President Bush's
 plan as soon as the Senate returns from the Labor Day
 holiday. Time is short, and we know many of you are
 on vacation, but we need to hear from you today! Please,
 join me right now in telling your Senators that we
 need responsible forest fire management. Because once
 our last wild forests are gone, they're gone forever...
 
 As always, thanks and best wishes. 
 
 Jane Danowitz, Director 
 Heritage Forests Campaign 
 
 You can take action on this alert either via email
 (please see directions below) or via the web at: 
 http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/healthy_forests/wbukxg4h78xie7 
 
 Visit the web address below to tell your friends about
 this. 
 http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/healthy_forests/forward/wbukxg4h78xie7 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE WEB: 
 If you have access to a web browser, you can take action
 on this alert by going to the following URL: 
 
 http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/healthy_forests/wbukxg4h78xie7  
 
 INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA EMAIL: 
 Just choose the "reply to sender" option on your email
 program. 
 
 Your letter will be addressed and sent to: 
 Your Senators  
 
 ----THIS LETTER WILL BE SENT IN YOUR NAME---- 
 Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],
 
 I strongly oppose President Bush's "Healthy Forests
 Initiative." This cynical, industry backed plan will
 not protect communities from fire, but rather will
 allow timber companies to extract old, large trees
 from any national forest area deemed a fire "threat"
 by industry-friendly administration officials. Forest
 fire fighting and prevention should be concentrated
 in communities and neighborhoods where people would
 be most affected by fires, not in remote forest areas
 many miles away from the nearest community.  
 
 The Administration's plan also calls for "streamlining"
 the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for thinning
 projects that are considered an "emergency." NEPA is
 the backbone of environmental protective legislation
 and serves a crucial role by providing federal decision-makers
 the proper scientific and cultural information needed
 to make an informed decision about public lands projects.
 NEPA also allows the public to participate in public
 lands decisions, which I consider of vital importance.
 Furthermore, procedures already exist within NEPA for
 expediting emergency federal projects.  
 
 President Bush's plan for reducing wildfires does not
 protect communities or forests and is a simple case
 of "the cure being worse than the disease." We can
 protect homes and communities without sacrificing the
 health of our forest ecosystems.  
 
 Science, and many policy makers, agree on this point.
 In fact, the administration endorsed the landmark,
 collaborative, science-based fire management strategy
 crafted by the Western Governors' Association last
 May. All parties who signed the plan, including Secretary
 of Interior Gale Norton and Agriculture Secretary Ann
 Venemann, agreed that fire risks could be reduced without
 any change to existing law.  
 
 A version of President Bush's "Healthy Forests Initiative"
 is expected to appear as an amendment on the Senate
 Interior Appropriations bill shortly after the Labor
 Day recess. I urgently ask, for the health of our national
 forests and the safety of communities near forests,
 that you oppose this amendment and any other legislative
 attempts to rollback NEPA protections for our national
 forests. 
 
 Thank you for your time and careful consideration on
 this very important issue. 
 
 ----END OF LETTER TO BE SENT---- 
 
 Sincerely, 
 Virginia Murphy
  Belleville, Illinois
Gmurphy6@AOL.com 
 
  >>