Forests Forever Action Alerts
Bill aims to counteract attacks on national forest protections
Posted 1/30/03
Congress and the Bush administration are eliminating virtually
every law that stands in the logging industry's way on our national
forests. As long as commercial logging is allowed in our public
lands, the industry will always use some pretext– either salvage,
fire, or "healthy" logging– to justify more commercially
driven destruction of U.S. forests.
The National Forest Protection and Restoration Act (NFPRA) would
permanently protect our federal public lands by
ending the environmentally destructive and fiscally irresponsible
federal timber sale program and replacing it with a scientifically
based, ecologically driven forest restoration program. See below
for a summary of the bill, which is championed by one of Forests
Forever's allies, the National Forest Protection Alliance.
The NFPRA was introduced during last year's Congress but was never voted on. Congressman James Leach (R-IA), is expected to reintroduce the bill in early spring, however.
This
is where you come in. Your help is needed to contact members of
Congress and ask them to co-sponsor the bill. Over 112 members of
the 107th Congress endorsed NFPRA, as well as over 220 Ph.D. scientists,
including Pulitzer Prize winning author Dr. Edward O. Wilson, 200
conservation organizations, religious groups, businesses, and, according
to numerous polls, the majority of the American public. Even large
Fortune 500 companies such as Staples Office Supply, Inc. and Lowe's
Hardware made specific commitments in support of ending public lands
logging. See <http://www.forestadvocate.org/supporters.
Congressman Leach will likely reintroduce the bill in March or April.
The following is a summary of the NFPRA's main points:
• Preserves America's national forest heritage, protecting
and restoring the ecological values of our federal public forests
by ending the federal government's timber sale program on National
Forests, National Wildlife Refuges, BLM Lands, and National Parks.
• Redirects logging subsidies towards scientifically based
ecological restoration of native biological diversity.
• Protects communities by reducing the incidence of severe
fire using prescribed burning and manual hazardous fuels treatments.
• Immediately protects all roadless areas and old-growth forests
by canceling logging projects in those areas.
• Saves taxpayers over $300 million annually.
• Provides funding for worker retraining; and gives preference
to displaced timber workers for jobs in the woods doing ecological
restoration.
• Provides permanent funding to counties for schools and roads.
• Provides funding for environmentally sensitive non-wood
alternative paper and construction materials.
• Allows the use of forest materials from restoration projects
for non-commercial public purposes, such as fuels to heat low-income
homes or timber for low-income housing.
Again, please call your representative and ask him or her to become
an original cosponsor to the National Forest Protection and Restoration
Act in the 108th Congress! Congressional Switchboard: (202)-224-3121.
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