« Sec. of Agriculture Tours Illegal Logging | Main | Rendell Comments on Eco-Tourism »
April 22, 2004
Send Secretary Veneman an Earth Day Message
Action Alert
Help Stop the Bush Administration from Using Earth Day to Exploit the Allegheny National Forest
The Forest Service is leading a tour with US Congressman John Peterson and Secretary of Agriculture Anne Veneman in order to promote illegal logging using the Bush Administration's Healthy Forests Initiative as cover. You can help fight this illegal logging today. Here is what you can do:
1) Protest these illegal logging proposals directly to the U.S. Forest Service
Two illegal salvage logging sales are currently up for public comment. The FR 191 Salvage and FR 395/396 Salvage would propose 63 acres of salvage logging in the Allegheny National Forest including along the Twin Lakes Recreation Area. These are only part of the Forest Service's effort to move forward with the salvage logging of up to 10,000 acres of downed trees within the Allegheny National Forest. Breaking down this larger effort into smaller projects to avoid more extensive public involvement and environmental analysis is illegal.
Write to:
Subject: FR 191 and FR 395/396 Salvage CEsForest Supervisor Kevin Elliott
Allegheny National Forest
PO Box 847
Warren, PA 16365
E-mail Supervisor Elliott
or use the ADP's Action Center to send comments immediately!
2) Support the National Forest Protection and Restoration Act
Enough is enough! Call you congressperson and ask them to permanently end this kind of abuse by signing the National Forest Protection And Restoration Act.
Help support efforts to end the abuse of our national forests and push for their restoration through the National Forest Protection and Restoration Act. The National Forest Protection and Restoration Act would help by ending the commercial logging program and replacing it with a national forest restoration program.
Help by getting your Congressional Representative to Co-sponsor this vital national legislation. Write your Congressional Representative and ask that they co-sponsor the National Forest Protection and Restoration Act.
3) Set Secretary Veneman Straight
No doubt that Secretary Ann Veneman's head was filled with all kinds of nonsense about how essential forest resources such as dead and downed trees are just "waste" or as US Congressman Peterson said in March.
What was once a magestic hard wood forest will simply be rotting wood on the forest floor." Help set Secretary Veneman straight on the vital role these dead and downed trees play in providing ecosystem roles in the forest.
Contact Anne Veneman:
202-720-3631
E-mail her
Share your messages to Venneman. Post them in the comments link below!
And look here for her press release
Update: While you are at it you might want to ask Secretary Veneman why a conservationist was threatened with arrest for trying to attend a media tour on public lands while special interest groups including the timber-industry funded Ruffed Grouse Society and the Pheasant Society are permitted.
Posted by jkleissler at April 22, 2004 03:18 PM
Comments
my letter to Veneman:
Dear Secretary Veneman,
I am sorry that I was unable to join you for your tour of the Allegheny National Forest today. Unfortunately from what I hear you didn't want any American citizens joining you for the tour anyhow and threatened them with arrest if they tried.
I know from experience that you have been told that trees downed by wind storms in the Allegheny National Forest just "rot" and are a "waste". Congressman Peterson has even declared that "What was once a magestic hard wood forest will simply be rotting wood on the forest floor." This is untrue. Downed and dead trees are an essential part of the Allegheny National Forest ecosystem. They provide essential habitat for birds, salamanders, and small mammals. They are also vital to the regeneration of tree seedlings and the survival of mature trees such as the Sugar Maple currently stressed by acid rain.
In March Congressman Peterson alleged that these actions must go forward because of the potential for forest fires. This is untrue. The Forest Service refers to the Allegheny as the "asbestos forest" because of its intense resistance to forest fires. Our only known period of wildfire problems was a direct result of turn of the century logging and this is well documented.
In addition to these concerns I'd also like to point out that "forest management" tools applied by the Forest Service have negative consequences on this essential forest habitat known as downed woody debris. A recent study by Hura and Crow in the February 2004 Natural Areas Journal (an international peer reviewed journal) documents how management activities such as commercial thinning harm the forest through the intensive reduction of dead and downed woody debris. This is a must reference if you are interested in management issues in the Allegheny National Forest.
I appreciate this opportunity to share my thoughts with you.
Sincerely,
Jim Kleissler, Forest Watch Director
Posted by: Jim Kleissler at April 22, 2004 03:39 PM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)