Post by lexington on Sept 8, 2004 22:21:14 GMT -5
i get the DENlines newsletter and this came in my email box today, if you want to help please read the following and click the link, thank you <3
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The Bush administration is finalizing a plan to eliminate protections for 58.5 million acres of America's last wild roadless forests and instead open them to rampant logging and mining. Help us deliver one million comments to the U.S. Forest Service by September 14th.
The administration's near-final plan would allow individual states to ignore the roadless rule – a rule that prohibits the building of logging roads in America's few remaining unroaded national forests. The plan could lead to the destruction of some of the most pristine areas in the entire country, including scarce habitat for wildlife such as grizzly bears, wolves, bald eagles, and salmon. If this new policy goes into effect, not a single acre of the national forests that were protected under the roadless rule will be safe from the timber and mining industries.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Please visit the Defenders Action Fund (http://www.defendersactionfund.org/takeAction.jsp) and send an e-mail to U.S. Forest Service officials and urge them to protect our last wild forests by withdrawing their damaging proposal to repeal the roadless rule. Thanks for helping to protect wild roadless forests and forest wildlife! With your help we can reach our goal of one million comments by September 14th, when Defenders Action Fund and other organizations will be delivering comments to the U.S. Forest Service.
BACKGROUND:
The Bush administration's final proposal to undermine the Roadless Area Conservation Rule was published on Friday, July 16, 2004 and would allow state governors to decide for themselves which roadless areas in national forests should be protected in their states and which should not. And, the proposal allows the Forest Service to override a governor's decision if the governor decides to protect more roadless forests in his or her state than the Forest Service wants.
National forests belong to all Americans, but the Bush administration's proposal delegates management of national forests to state governors instead of the U.S. Forest Service. Few, if any, governors are likely to spend their limited resources asking the Forest Service to protect these remaining wild areas when they know at the end of the day the administration will choose to protect timber industry profits! , not the environment.
The Bush administration contends that the roadless rule is not in effect because of legal rulings, but its real aim is to cut down legal appeals pending in the courts that would keep the rule in effect. The administration promised to defend the rule in the courts, but abandoned that promise quickly to serve timber interests. Cynically, the White House is using pending litigation as a smokescreen to renege on their May 4, 2001, public promise to "uphold" the roadless rule. The mission of the Forest Service is the protection of national forests, but the administration's action essentially gives away the remaining 30 percent of national forest lands to the timber industry.
The roadless rule is a landmark conservation initiative enacted in 2001 to protect 58.5 million acres of roadless areas in our national forests from most logging and road-building. It was the result of years of deliberation and the i! nput of approximately 2.5 million comments from Americans all around the country. Unprecedented in its overwhelming popularity, the rule garnered 10 times more public comments than any federal rule in history. Members of Congress, major corporations, such as Staples, outdoor retailers, such as REI, hundreds of gun groups in states such as Pennsylvania and Michigan and governors from New Mexico, Virginia, Maine, Washington and Pennsylvania have announced their opposition to changes to the rule.
America's national forests are already covered with 386,000 miles of roads – enough to circle the earth 15 times, with a backlog of road repairs totaling approximately $10 billion. Roadless areas are a vital part of our national forests. They provide clean drinking water for millions of Americans, critical habitat for threatened species, and create recreational opportunities for our families.
Act no! w to save America's last roadless National Forests by visiting www.defendersactionfund.org/takeAction.jsp
========================
The Bush administration is finalizing a plan to eliminate protections for 58.5 million acres of America's last wild roadless forests and instead open them to rampant logging and mining. Help us deliver one million comments to the U.S. Forest Service by September 14th.
The administration's near-final plan would allow individual states to ignore the roadless rule – a rule that prohibits the building of logging roads in America's few remaining unroaded national forests. The plan could lead to the destruction of some of the most pristine areas in the entire country, including scarce habitat for wildlife such as grizzly bears, wolves, bald eagles, and salmon. If this new policy goes into effect, not a single acre of the national forests that were protected under the roadless rule will be safe from the timber and mining industries.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Please visit the Defenders Action Fund (http://www.defendersactionfund.org/takeAction.jsp) and send an e-mail to U.S. Forest Service officials and urge them to protect our last wild forests by withdrawing their damaging proposal to repeal the roadless rule. Thanks for helping to protect wild roadless forests and forest wildlife! With your help we can reach our goal of one million comments by September 14th, when Defenders Action Fund and other organizations will be delivering comments to the U.S. Forest Service.
BACKGROUND:
The Bush administration's final proposal to undermine the Roadless Area Conservation Rule was published on Friday, July 16, 2004 and would allow state governors to decide for themselves which roadless areas in national forests should be protected in their states and which should not. And, the proposal allows the Forest Service to override a governor's decision if the governor decides to protect more roadless forests in his or her state than the Forest Service wants.
National forests belong to all Americans, but the Bush administration's proposal delegates management of national forests to state governors instead of the U.S. Forest Service. Few, if any, governors are likely to spend their limited resources asking the Forest Service to protect these remaining wild areas when they know at the end of the day the administration will choose to protect timber industry profits! , not the environment.
The Bush administration contends that the roadless rule is not in effect because of legal rulings, but its real aim is to cut down legal appeals pending in the courts that would keep the rule in effect. The administration promised to defend the rule in the courts, but abandoned that promise quickly to serve timber interests. Cynically, the White House is using pending litigation as a smokescreen to renege on their May 4, 2001, public promise to "uphold" the roadless rule. The mission of the Forest Service is the protection of national forests, but the administration's action essentially gives away the remaining 30 percent of national forest lands to the timber industry.
The roadless rule is a landmark conservation initiative enacted in 2001 to protect 58.5 million acres of roadless areas in our national forests from most logging and road-building. It was the result of years of deliberation and the i! nput of approximately 2.5 million comments from Americans all around the country. Unprecedented in its overwhelming popularity, the rule garnered 10 times more public comments than any federal rule in history. Members of Congress, major corporations, such as Staples, outdoor retailers, such as REI, hundreds of gun groups in states such as Pennsylvania and Michigan and governors from New Mexico, Virginia, Maine, Washington and Pennsylvania have announced their opposition to changes to the rule.
America's national forests are already covered with 386,000 miles of roads – enough to circle the earth 15 times, with a backlog of road repairs totaling approximately $10 billion. Roadless areas are a vital part of our national forests. They provide clean drinking water for millions of Americans, critical habitat for threatened species, and create recreational opportunities for our families.
Act no! w to save America's last roadless National Forests by visiting www.defendersactionfund.org/takeAction.jsp