10/29/04

THE CLOCK IS TICKING! 18 DAYS LEFT FOR ROADLESS RULE COMMENTS

Forests Forever supporters have bombarded the Forest Service with letters calling for
the retention of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. At the same time, we’ve been demanding that the agency abandon its proposed rule change that would require governors to petition the Dept. of Agriculture if they want to preserve roadless areas
in their states.

All together, environmental groups have generated over a million letters so far.
But it’s not over until November 15—and we can do more!

We need to deluge the Forest Service with as many letters as possible to let them know the overwhelming opposition to its proposed rule change.

Don’t let the Bush administration give away our public forests to the timber, oil, and mining industries.

Write to the Forest Service now. Forward this email to your friends, and ask them to write as well.

Nearly 60 million roadless acres are at stake. Once these lands are logged and crisscrossed by roads, they cannot be made pristine again.

TAKE ACTION:

The period for public comment on the proposed rule ends Nov. 15, 2004.

The proposed rule is available at:

http://roadless.fs.fed.us/documents/id_07/2004_07_12_state_petition_proposed_rule.html
Send your comments to:

Content Analysis Team
ATTN: Roadless State Petitions
USDA Forest Service
P.O. Box 221090
Salt Lake City, UT 84122
Fax: (801) 517-1014
E-mail: statepetitionroadless@fs.fed.us.

Comments also may be submitted from: http://www.regulations.gov.

Please send us a copy of your letter. (Our mailing address and fax are listed at the bottom of the page.) Thanks!

SAMPLE LETTER
(Please feel free to rewrite it in your own words.)

Dear Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth:

Please accept this letter as official public comment for the roadless area management state petition proposal.

I strongly oppose the elimination of the existing Roadless Area Conservation Rule. This enormously popular rule provides protection for fish and wildlife habitat, watersheds, and wilderness recreation. It protects the last undeveloped portions of our national forest heritage.

I object to the proposed rule’s delegation of roadless area protection to state governors. Our public forests belong to all Americans, and should be administered at the federal level.

I oppose any changes that would leave roadless areas in our national forests open to roadbuilding, logging, mining, drilling, or any other development.

I urge you to abandon this misguided proposal and leave the existing Roadless Area Conservation Rule in place in the Lower 48 states and Alaska’s Chugach National Forest, and reinstate the rule in the Tongass National Forest.

Please help preserve the experience of wilderness for all Americans, and for the generations to come.

Respectfully,

Your name
Your address