10/28/05

KEEP CHAINSAWS OUT OF GIANT SEQUOIA NATIONAL MONUMENT

New legislation that will change the way Giant Sequoia National Monument is managed was introduced in the U.S. Senate on Oct. 19.

Amazingly, the U.S. Forest Service has been conducting large-scale, liquidation logging in and around groves of giant sequoias, causing them to die from windthrow. (A link at the end of this alert will take you to a gallery of photos on our website depicting this activity.)

The Act to Save America’s Forests (S. 1897) would transfer control of Giant Sequoia National Monument from the Forest Service to the National Park Service. It was re-introduced in the Senate by Sens. Jon Corzine (D-NJ) and Christopher Dodd (D-CT), and will soon be re-introduced in the House by Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA).

The Forest Service has neither the expertise nor the inclination to manage or restore natural ecosystems. The Park Service, on the other hand, has nearly a century of experience in preserving national monuments, many of which have become national parks.

In addition to placing Giant Sequoia National Monument under the jurisdiction of the Park Service, the Act to Save America’s Forests would end clearcutting on all federal lands and stop logging and roadbuilding in the last wild, roadless forests. It will require our federal forest agencies to restore the native biological diversity on the national forests.

The measure now has 153 co-sponsors in the House, and growing support in the Senate.
It’s time to let your senators know how important this historic legislation is to you. Urge them to get behind the Act to Save America’s Forests!

Senator Barbara Boxer
1700 Montgomery St. #240
San Francisco, CA 94111

Senator Dianne Feinstein
One Post St., #2450
San Francisco, CA 94104

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Senator _________________,

I urge you to support the Act to Save America’s Forests, S. 1897, a bill that will protect the sequoia groves in Giant Sequoia National Monument from ecologically disastrous logging and mismanagement by the U.S. Forest Service. The act will transfer control of the Monument from the Forest Service to the National Park Service.

In addition to keeping timber harvesting out of Giant Sequoia National Monument, the act will protect tens of millions of acres of designated core forest areas throughout all the national forests. It will prohibit clearcutting and other forms of destructive logging outside the core forest areas as well. The act will require native biodiversity in the national forests to be protected and restored.

We ask you to please support the Act to Save America’s Forests and work to pass it into law, so that the sequoias, and national forests throughout this country, will be protected for future generations.

Sincerely,

[Your name]
[Your address]

And please send a copy to Forests Forever!

For more information about the Act to Save America’s Forests, please visit our website:
https://www.forestsforever.org/archives_resources/e-alerts/SaveAmForests.html

Also, see an account of a recent Forests Forever lobbying trip to Washington DC:
https://www.forestsforever.org/campaigns/DCtrip.html

And finally, a new gallery of full-color photos taken in Giant Sequoia National Monument:
https://www.forestsforever.org/archives_resources/chainsaws_cathedral.html