And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1999 10:25:59 -0600 To: "Wild Rockies Alerts" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: Wild Rockies InfoNet <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: SENATE PROPOSES TO GUT NORTHWEST FOREST PLAN June 23, 1999 SENATE PROPOSES TO GUT NORTHWEST FOREST PLAN FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Jay Lininger Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (541) 846-9273 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Doug Heiken Oregon Natural Resources Council (541) 344-0675 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] The Senate Appropriations Committee will hear a proposal on Thursday, June 24, to eliminate key protections for old-growth species from the Northwest Forest Plan. The proposal, attached as a rider to an Interior appropriations bill, would cancel the "survey and manage" provision requiring the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to complete surveys for approximately 80 sensitive species prior to designing ground disturbing activities like timber sales. The species in question include red tree voles, elusive salamanders, rare mollusks and a host of lichens, bryophytes and fungi. All were predicted to fare poorly under the NFP, which allocates millions of acres of old-growth forests to timber production. "Surveys and pre-emptive mitigation are necessary to prevent new listings under the Endangered Species Act," said Jay Lininger of the Williams-based Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center. A similar measure likely will soon follow in the House of Representatives. In a June 21 House Agriculture Subcommittee hearing in Medford, lawmakers blasted Forest Service officials for failing to provide a "predictable and sustainable" level of timber harvest on federal lands. The hearing, organized by Oregon's 2nd District Representative Greg Walden (R), was the first official Congressional review of the NFP since its implementation in 1994. At the hearing, Rep. Walden warned of a looming "train wreck" caused by the survey and manage policy potentially holding up the sale of hundreds of millions of board feet of federal timber. Cancellation of surveys would render moot a lawsuit filed in Federal District Court by 17 regional conservation groups. Political operatives familiar with the case characterized the lawsuit as "a slam dunk" because of its likelihood of shutting down old-growth logging throughout the Northwest pending completion of a new environmental impact study. WHAT YOU CAN DO Contact members of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Northwest delegation TODAY and tell them to keep protections for all forest creatures, great and small. Any delay in offering timber sales from federal forests is the result of agencies' failure to implement the survey and manage strategy, not because the strategy is too stringent. The survey and manage provision is essential to prevent costly listings under the Endangered Species Act. Also, contact other members of the Northwest Congressional delegation, President Clinton's environmental advisor, Katie McGinty, and Vice President Al Gore and urge them to ward off this hostile attack on the Forest Plan! Phone numbers and addresses are below: Senator Hollings (SC) phone (202) 224-6121 Senator Shelby (AL) phone (202) 224-5744 Senator Ron Wyden (541) 858-5122 (Medford) (541) 431-0229 (Eugene) (202) 224-5244 (Washington) Senator Gordon Smith (541) 608-9102 (Medford) (202) 224-3753 (Washington) Representative Greg Walden (541) 776-4646 (Medford) (202) 225-6730 (Washington) Represenative Peter DeFazio (541) 465-6732 (Eugene) (541) 440-3523 (Roseburg) (541) 269-2609 (Coos Bay) (202) 225-6416 (Washington) Vice President Al Gore attn: environmental advisor Old Executive Office Building Washington, DC 20501 (202) 456-2326 Katie McGinty Council on Environmental Quality Old Executive Office Building Washington, DC 20501 (202) 456-6224 Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
