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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 20, 2006
Contact:
Paul Hughes, executive director: (415) 974-4201; paul@forestsforever.org
Marc Lecard, communications manager: (415) 974-4202; marc@forestsforever.org
Legislative
battles loom on sequoias, wilderness
Important forest protection bills before this year’s Congress
The session of Congress that begins this month (the Senate reconvened
on Jan. 18, the House will open on Jan. 31) will take up several
high-profile issues, from political corruption to the Endangered
Species Act.
Less visible but no less important are two forest protection bills
now in Congress that could help shield vast tracts of wild forest
from industrial logging, roadbuilding, and development– and
from the U.S. Forest Service.
“These bills may not make the front pages,” said Paul
Hughes, executive director of Forests Forever, an environmental
organization in San Francisco dedicated to protecting the forests
of California. “But everyone who wants to preserve our wild
forests for future generations should be aware of them.”
The Act to Save America’s Forests (S. 1897), introduced on
Oct 19, 2005, by Sens. Jon Corzine (D-NJ) and Christopher Dodd (D-CT),
would take Giant Sequoia National Monument out of the hands of the
Forest Service and put it under the management of the National Park
Service.
The measure also would require federal forest agencies to restore
native biological diversity on the national forests, end clearcutting
on all federal lands and stop logging and roadbuilding in roadless
areas.
A companion bill soon will be introduced in the House by Rep. Anna
Eshoo (D-CA).
The National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2005 (H.R.
3563) was introduced by Reps. Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Sherwood Boehlert
(R-NY) in response to the May 5, 2005, repeal of the Clinton-era
Roadless Area Conservation Rule by the Bush administration.
The Roadless Act would write the protections afforded by the original
rule into federal law and keep logging, oil and gas drilling, mining,
and other forms of development out of pristine, unroaded national
forest lands.
One of the most popular environmental rules ever, the original Roadless
Area Conservation Rule protected 58.5 million roadless acres of
national forest from extractive uses.
By stripping away this protection, the Forest Service put at risk
hundreds of plant, insect, and animal species, threatened drinking-water
quality and left forests more vulnerable than before to invasive
species.
“These bills give us an opportunity to ensure that wild, roadless
forests will still be there to be wondered at and enjoyed by our
children, by their children, and by everyone who comes after us,”
said Hughes. “If we don’t save these last wild forests,
we will be giving away an irreplaceable heritage.”
Forests Forever has campaigned for preserving the protections of
the original roadless rule since 2003, and has been a strong supporter
of the Act to Save America’s Forests since the bill’s
introduction. The San Francisco-based group is urging people to
write, email, FAX, or phone their congressional representatives
and ask them to support these important forest protection measures.
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