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ACTION ALERTS
Sign our online
petition asking Congress to protect the Giant Sequoia National
Monument
March 2008
Call your
Representatives today and ask them to join others in taking a
stand for the Giant Sequoia National
Monument!
November 9, 2006
Dear Friends of the Forest,
On Friday, October 19, 2006,
Congressman Pete Stark (D-CA) and 28 other Members of the U.S.
House of Representatives sent a letter to Mike Johanns,
Secretary of Agriculture, and Dale Bosworth, Chief of the U.S.
Forest Service, demanding a halt to logging in the Giant Sequoia
National Monument (GSNM). The
letter is a strong rebuke of the environmentally destructive and
fraudulent Forest Service logging program in the GSNM. The
letter cites several instances of illegal logging within the
GSNM, including the hazard tree removal project that removed
more than 200 large trees from the Monument’s most popular
sequoia viewing spot, the Trail of 100 Giants, in violation to
the National Environmental Policy Act also known as NEPA.
The letter states that, “These
logging operations are destroying the natural sequoia forest
ecosystem of the GSNM, in direct violation of the spirit and the
letter of the presidential proclamation creating the GSNM in
2000.”
To obtain a 3.26 mb copy of the
letter, please
click here
.
If you do not have internet access, please call Valerie at (760)
376-4434 and she can fax or mail a copy of the letter.
The following members of
Congress signed the letter:
Barbara Lee (CA-09)
Tom Lantos (CA-12)
Pete Stark (CA-13)
Anna Eshoo (CA-14)
Michael Honda (CA-15)
Jane Harman (CA-36)
Grace Napolitano (CA-38)
Alcee Hastings (FL-23)
John Lewis (GA-05)
Janice Schakowsky (IL-09)
John Olver (MA-01)
Richard Neal (MA-02)
Barney Frank (MA-04)
Marty Meehan (MA-05)
Edward Markey (MA-07)
James McGovern (MA-13)
Albert Wynn (MD-04)
Chris Van Hollen (MD-08)
John Conyers (MI-14)
Betty McCollum (MN-04)
Carolyn Maloney (NY-14)
Maurice Hinchey (NY-22)
Dennis Kucinich (OH-10)
Patrick Kennedy (RI-01)
Shelia Jackson Lee (TX-18)
Lloyd Doggett (TX-25)
Jim Moran (VA-08)
Jim McDermott (WA-07)
Tammy Baldwin (WI-02)
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Please call your representatives and ask
them to sign on to the Stark letter and to support the Act to
Save America’s Forests (S.1897), which is an act that
protects roadless and wilderness areas of all National Forests,
nationwide, from logging, and transfers the GSNM into the care
of the National Park Service. If your representative has
already signed the letter, please thank them for doing their
part to help protect the giant sequoias and the GSNM and ask
them to support the Act to Save America’s Forests. You can
reach your representative by calling the capitol switchboard at
(202) 224-3121 and telling the operator your zip code.
If your representative will be replaced in
January 2007, please remember to call again after January 20,
2007 and tell your new representative to sign on to the Stark
letter that demands a halt to
logging in the GSNM and ask them to support the Act to
Save America’s Forests.
Thank you on
behalf of the trees and animals of the Sequoia who cannot speak
for themselves!
Call your
Representatives today to protect the Giant Sequoia National
Monument from chainsaws!
Updated August 30, 2006
Dear Friends of
the Forest,
On July 11,
Republican Congressman Devin
Nunes of California’s 21st District introduced bill
HR 5760 titled the `Giant Sequoia National Monument Transition
Act of 2006,' which would allow expired timber sales to
be implemented in the Monument. The
purpose of the bill is to arbitrarily counteract the court
decisions of 2005 that halted timber sales grandfathered
in by the Proclamation and to overturn the recent protective
ruling by Judge Breyer on the suit filed by Sequoia ForestKeeper
and other concerned organizations against the Forest Service’s
management plan for the Giant Sequoia National Monument.
The bill, if passed, will allow chainsaws
into the Monument before the ink has even dried, leaving Sequoia
ForestKeeper and other conservation groups no choice but to
watch as the trees we have worked so hard to protect are cut
down and removed for profit. The bill states: “Effective
upon the date of the enactment of this Act, implementation of
the timber sales described in subsection (a) may proceed
immediately and to completion, notwithstanding any previous or
future amendments or revisions to the Sequoia Land and Resource
Management Plan or the Giant Sequoia National Monument
Management Plan.”
Also, a pending rider by Rep. Conrad Burns,
modifying the Interior Appropriations Act in Congress, would
allow the Bush Administration to reverse Sequoia ForestKeeper’s
other court victories that prevented logging projects,
nation-wide, of 1,000 acres or less from being categorically
excluded from environmental impact analysis. Thus, if the rider
is passed, timber-cutting projects of less than 1,000 acres can
go forward with no public review. Although it might not sound
like much, 1,000 acres is the equivalent of approximately 1.6
square miles, a very large portion of land to denude of its
natural cover.
If the rider and the bill are approved,
the laws of the land would be rewritten so that these violations
can continue. These sales would then be exempt from comment and
appeal by citizens.
It is beginning to look like our only hope
for Giant Sequoia National Monument protection is the passing of
the Act to Save America’s Forests (S. 1897), which would
remove the Giant Sequoia National Monument from Forest Service
control, and place it in the care of the National Park Service,
which is the appropriate agency to care for national parks and
monuments. The Act to Save America’s Forests, introduced
by Representatives Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY),
is supported by many of the world’s leading scientists,
including Dr. E.O. Wilson, Dr. Jane Goodall, and the Union of
Concerned Scientists, as well as over 100 members of Congress.
We
are asking that you please call your representatives TODAY and
ask them to vote no on the Giant Sequoia National Monument
Transition Act of 2006 (HR 5760), and to support The Act
to Save America’s Forests (S. 1897).
Even if you do not reside in California you
can make a difference by encouraging your representative to
support the Act to Save America’s Forests, which
is an act that protects all forests nationwide. You can reach
your representative by calling the capitol switchboard at
(202) 224-3121 and telling them your zip code.
Thank you on
behalf of the trees and animals of the Sequoia who cannot speak
for themselves!
Valerie Cassity,
Programs Director
***Read
the Act to Save America's Forests (S. 1897) now***
To
read the act you will need to have Adobe
Acrobat Reader. Most likely you
already have this software on your computer. If you don't,
you can go
here to get it for free.
Please write about your
negative experiences with OHV Users in Sequoia National Forest
December 2005
Sequoia ForestKeeper is looking for letters
from forest visitors who have had user conflict, or any type of
negative experiences, with OHV (Off-Highway Vehicle) users in
Sequoia National Forest, which include dirt bikes, 4WD trucks,
and jeeps. I know that many OHVers do follow all of the rules
and regulations and show respect for the multiple users in the
forest, but there are several who do not, and that needs to be
expressed before the new trails plan is completed. Your
letters can help influence guidelines for the trail system that
are being evaluated and rewritten right now.
Some problems that you may have had with
OHV use in Sequoia National forest could include, but are not
limited to:
-Excessive Noise
-Trailblazing (driving off of designated trails)
-Disrespect towards or failure to yield to hikers, bikers,
equestrians, and/or campers -Witnessing
OHVers operating their vehicles under the influence of drugs or
alcohol -Littering
-Fires not properly extinguished
-Any other issue you have personally experienced with OHV users
Please send your
letters to:
Arthur Gaffrey, Forest Supervisor
Sequoia National Forest/ Giant Sequoia National Monument
1839 South Newcomb Street
Porterville, CA 93257
Also, please
e-mail or mail a copy to us at:
Sequoia ForestKeeper
PO Box 2134
Kernville, CA 93238
valerie@sequoiaforestkeeper.org
Thanks for your help in protecting the
forest!
Calls Needed: Walden/Baird
Logging Bill Moving Fast
November 2005
Representative Greg Walden
(R-OR-2) and Brian Baird (D-WA-3) introduced a bill, called the
"Forest Emergency Recovery and Research Act" (HR4200) that
sweeps aside protections for forests, fish and wildlife in order
to rush logging and roadbuilding after normal, natural events
that occur in National Forests. Despite all of the green washing
by Walden and Baird in a Resources Committee hearing on
November 10, 2005, this bill is
damaging to our forest ecosystems and cannot be defended as
scientifically credible.
The bill is moving fast. The
House Agriculture Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on
the bill on
December 7, 2005. That same
week, the House Resources Committee could vote on the bill and
send it to the House floor. The bill could go to the House
floor for a vote as early as the week of December 12th.
Representative Tom Udall (D-NM)
has introduced an alternative bill called the "National Forests
Rehabilitation and Recovery Act" (H.R. 3973). The Udall
collaboration bill is a cautious, common sense approach, to
studying the best responses to natural disturbances on forest
ecosystems based on science and community collaboration.
Calls are needed to your
Representative today.
TAKE ACTION:
Please call Members of
the House of Representatives at
(202)224-3121 and tell
them to oppose the Walden logging bill (deceptively called the
Forest Emergency Recovery and Research Act, FERRA) and cosponsor
the Udall collaboration bill (H.R. 3973), The National Forests
Rehabilitation and Recovery Act.
Important
Links:
For a copy of
the Walden/Baird logging bill go to:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_bills&doc
id=f:h4200ih.txt.pdf
To view copies of the testimony submitted for the November 10,
2005 Resources Committee hearing on the Walden/Baird logging
bill go to:
http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/archives/109/ffh/111005.htm
For a copy of the American Lands report, After the Fires: Do
No Harm in America's Forest, A Report on the Impacts of Logging
on Forest Recovery:
http://www.americanlands.org/issues.php?subsubNo=1085141603&article=11308558
03
For a factsheet on the Myths and Facts of the Walden/Baird
logging bill prepared by NRDC please go to::
http://www.americanlands.org/documents/1131128447_Walden
bill myths
andfacts _2_.pdf
For a copy of the Udall collaboration bill go to::
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_bills&doc
id=f:h3973ih.txt.pdf
THIS IS WHAT THE FOREST SERVICE HAS DONE
TO THE MOST VISITED TRAIL IN THE GIANT SEQUOIA NATIONAL
MONUMENT!
August 2005
The Forest Service recently completed a
"hazard tree" reduction project in the Trail of 100 Giants in
the Giant Sequoia National Monument. 200 trees were
removed, and the larger, merchantable trees, like the very old
giant sugar pine tree pictured above, were sold to a local mill.
Even though the Monument is outside of the timber base by
Presidential proclamation, the Forest Service has found a
loophole in the Healthy Forest Restoration Act, which states
that logging projects can be "Categorically Excluded" from
public review for the purposes of "fuels reduction" and "hazard
tree removal." This cannot be tolerated!
What can YOU do?
W
Become a member by sending a donation to:
Sequoia ForestKeeper
P.O. Box 2134
Kernville, CA 93238
W
Establish an endowment fund to support Sequoia
ForestKeeper’s mission.
W
Hold a house party to inform your family and
friends about the plight of the giant sequoias and the mission
of Sequoia ForestKeeper to protect and restore the ecosystem of
the Giant Sequoia National Monument and Sequoia National Forest.
W
Call your congressional representatives at
(202) 224-3121 (just
tell the operator your zip code and ask to be connected to your
representative) to tell them to protect the Giant Sequoia
National Monument by transferring it from administration of the
Forest Service into that of the National Park Service, to be
managed by the Superintendent of Sequoia and Kings Canyon
National Parks.
W
Write your representatives, senators, and the
President, and tell them that the Giant Sequoia National
Monument should be under the care of the National Park Service,
and then send a copy to Sequoia ForestKeeper. You can find the
addresses of your representatives, or e-mail them directly, at
www.congress.org.
SEQUOIA MONUMENT ALERT #4
August 2005
The Giant Sequoia National Monument is in
immediate danger!
The Saddle Fuels Reduction timber sale, which could begin as
early as
today, would log more than 9 million cubic feet (5 million board
feet) of old growth trees from approximately 2,000 acres of the
Southern Pacific Fisher Conservation Area,
home to the endangered California Condor, the California Spotted
Owl, the
Northern Goshawk, the American Marten, the Pacific Fisher, and
the Giant
Sequoia. The Saddle sale would remove the forest canopy which
would cause
this habitat to become drier and hotter, which would increase
the fire
danger. The sale would also irrevocably impact giant sequoia
groves (at
least over several centuries) and must be stopped!
The Saddle Fuels Reduction Project will log swaths adjacent to
four giant
sequoia groves: the Long Meadow Grove, the Starvation Grove, the
Cunningham, and the Packsaddle Grove. The Long Meadow Grove
contains the
Trail of 100 Giants and huge hidden 1980's clearcuts. The
Starvation Grove
was the site of the last active Condor nest site in the wild.
The Forest Service changed the original termination date for the
expired
Saddle Timber Sale and is threatening to implement this project
in
violation of the Proclamation which established the Monument.
The Saddle Fuels Reduction Project timber sale was one of
several projects
across the forest that would log 1/4 mile swathes on ridge tops,
supposedly
for fire protection, that the Forest Service tried to start
under a draft
Regional Plan that was withdrawn under the Clinton
Administration. On July
7, 2005, the District Court found that the Forest Service's Fire
and Fuels
Management Plan is illegal. Since the Saddle Fuels Reduction
Project is
based on an expired or illegal fire plan, it should not be
implemented.
Please call California Attorney General Bill Lockyer at
(800)952-5225,
whose office just won the decision against this destructive
logging
practice. The Forest Service is perpetuating this logging under
the guise
of reducing the fire risk, which it does not accomplish. Tell
Bill Lockyer
that the Forest Service is moving forward on the Saddle sale
despite his
recent victory which secured a legal ruling against this type of
logging.
Please also call Barbara Boxer's closest office to the Monument
in Fresno
at (559)497-5109 and let her know that this criminal act is
taking place.
The trees are being axed as you read this message, and your
urgent action
could save them and the integrity of the forest.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!
Today, June 14,
2005, Sequoia ForestKeeper turns four. When we were founded,
President Clinton had just signed the proclamation establishing
the Giant Sequoia National Monument only a year before, and we
thought that the battle to preserve the largest living things on
earth for future generations was half over. Unfortunately,
President Clinton failed to transfer this Monument into the care
of the National Park system, so we are still working to protect
that land which we hoped had already been protected.
But, it is not
all doom and gloom! Today is a celebration of our
organization’s strength of will to survive and to thrive. Each
year we have built momentum in the forest preservation movement,
and I am proud to say that 2005 has been a breakthrough year
thus far. We filed the lawsuit against the Forest Service’s
damaging management plan for the Monument, we have solidly
landed in the American public’s eye with the excellent January
16 article in Parade Magazine about our Board President, Martin
Litton and his mission to save the Giant Sequoias, and this
summer we have volunteers going into the forest to monitor
conditions before and after logging projects in addition to
performing healthy forest monitoring.
We are very
excited about the possibilities before us, and although we can
never know what the next four years will hold, we are very
optimistic that Sequoia ForestKeeper will shape the management
direction toward protecting the ecosystems within the Giant
Sequoia National Monument and the surrounding forest.
Thank you to
everyone who has contributed funds, taken the time to write
letters, passed our message along to their friends and family,
or just supported our mission in your heart. We couldn’t have
made it this far without you; and we hope we can count on you
for the next four years and beyond.
SEQUOIA MONUMENT ALERT #3
January 2005
The Forest Service has just
approved their final management plan for the Giant Sequoia
National Monument that Sequoia ForestKeeper appealed in March
2004. Because they plan to move forward with damaging
practices in the Monument, Sequoia ForestKeeper will be
initiating litigation to protect this important national
treasure. It is too late to have any effect by writing the
Forest Service, but you can call your representative and tell
them of your outrage.
Please call your representative and let them know that:
v
You don’t want almost $14 million of American tax
money to be used to conduct logging projects in the Giant
Sequoia National Monument.
v
The protective intent of the Presidential
Proclamation of April, 2000, should be followed in managing the
Monument.
v
The Pacific Fisher, an at-risk species, should be
protected by disallowing any management activities to take place
in their habitat areas.
v
The 900 miles of road already contained within the
Monument boundaries is more than enough for recreational use in
any one person’s lifetime.
v
The Monument should not be managed through logging
of large trees up to 30” in diameter, but instead through
responsible thinning of brush, lower branches, and small
diameter trees to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire.
v
The Giant Sequoia National Monument should be
removed from Forest Service control and placed into the National
Park System, where it will be managed with the care and
protection it deserves!
v
Urge your representative to support the Act to
Save America’s Forests (S. 1938, 108th Congress, November 24,
2003) today.
Click here to read a summary of the Act to Save America's
Forests in word format.
You can call
(202) 224-3121 to reach congress, and then ask to
be connected to your representative. Please call today!
Please
click here
to open the link to read more about the Forest Service's plan to
mismanage the Giant
Sequoia National Monument and sample letters that can be sent to
the Forest Service and your representatives.
Please Ask the Bush Administration to Keep
Promise to Uphold the Roadless Rule!
This week, please call
Agriculture Secretary Veneman and ask her to keep her promise to
uphold the Roadless Rule by keeping it intact in the Lower 48
and reinstating the rule in the Tongass. And please forward this
alert to others!
On
May 4th 2001, Agriculture Secretary Veneman pledged to uphold
the
Roadless Area Conservation Rule,
a historic conservation initiative enacted in January 2001 to
protect 58.5 million acres of wild national forest land from
most commercial logging and road-building. On the third
anniversary of this pledge, the Bush administration appears
poised to ignore that pledge by further weakening this
overwhelmingly popular rule.
The Bush administration has
already eliminated protections for
Alaska’s
Tongass
Rainforest by exempting it from the Roadless Rule. Next, the
administration is planning to allow governors in the Lower 48 to
decide
whether or not they
want roadless areas in their states protected. Not only would
this give governors unprecedented power over federal lands owned
by all Americans, it could lead to the destruction of pristine
forests across the country.
Please call
Agriculture Secretary Veneman today and ask her to keep her
promise to uphold
the Roadless Rule by keeping it intact in the Lower 48 and
reinstating the rule in the Tongass.
Target:
Agriculture
Secretary Veneman
(202) 720-3631
Sample Phone Rap:
Hi, my name is
_________, and I’m calling from YOUR CITY AND STATE. I’m
calling to urge
Secretary Veneman to keep her promise to uphold the Roadless
Rule. I urge her protect our national forests by keeping the
Roadless Rule intact in the Lower 48 and reinstating the rule in
Alaska’s Tongass Rainforest.
Additional Targets
(in case you can’t get through to Veneman’s office or want to
make more calls):
1) James
Connaughton, Chairman, White House Council on Environmental
Quality
(202) 456-6224
2) Karl Rove,
Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the President
(202) 456-2369
3) Mark Rey, Under
Secretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources &
Environment
(202) 720-7173
4) Dale Bosworth,
Chief of the Forest Service
(202) 205-1661
SEQUOIA MONUMENT ALERT #2
What the
Forest Service
didn't tell us in their PLAN!
We found the MAP of where they want to
LOG!
As you know, the Final EIS and Plan for the Giant Sequoia
National Monument was released on January 12, 2004. It is a
vague, general, confusing document based on layers and
layers of bureaucratic USFS guidelines which made it
impossible to understand what was proposed.
The FEIS contained specific figures about acreage to be
'treated' using fire and mechanical thinning (LOGGING) and
exact costs for each; but the FEIS implied that Monument
managers would wander about and haphazardly decide where to do
what! (If you want a copy of Alert #1, let us know!)
THEY HAD TO HAVE A MAP!: the computer had to have
something on which to base all those predictions of acres,
costs and LOGGING volume(7 1/2 Million Board Feet a Year!) But
the USFS was playing dumb. No FEIS Map or written description
indicated any specific areas considered for any particular
method of 'treatment.'
During the
short 45 days we had to write our Administrative Appeal, WE
FOUND THE MAP OF PROPOSED PROJECTS in a GIS file of USFS FEIS
map layers. ALL information regarding an EIS must BY LAW be
disclosed and available to the public. And ALL proposed
activities, whether hypothetical or not, must be discussed in
terms of impacts! That's one of the most important requirements
of an EIS. Why wasn't this information in the FEIS??? Having
this amount of detailed planning in the backroom, yet showing
the public NOTHING is completely contrary to the National
Environmental Policy Act.
ATTACHED IS A JPEG MAP OF THE PROPOSED ACTIVITIES FOR THE
SEQUOIA MONUMENT! THIS
IS THE LAYER OF MAPPING THAT EVERYONE WANTED TO SEE AND THAT THE
USFS DENIED EXISTED.
Please, help
us get this Monument Plan kicked out! Sequoia National Forest
MUST withdraw their legally deficient FEIS and go back to step
ONE starting with an honest disclosure of what they want to do
in the Monument.
Right now the Regional Forester is taking our Appeal under
consideration. If he does not rescind this Monument Plan, we
will go to court. But letters of outrage to the Regional
Forester and to your elected officials could spare us the cost
of going to court.
Our first Alert listed many problems with the FEIS: widespread
tree removal even though the Proclamation says 'no tree
removed.' NOW we can see the big picture where they are
likely to remove trees.
Please send messages to the following people. Express your
anger (we are angry!) that the Giant Sequoia National Monument
Planning process has been so totally absent of the integrity,
honesty, openness, and professional competence that we expect
from an agency in charge of this irreplaceable natural wonder!
Ask them to urge the Regional Forester to SEND BACK THE PLAN!
Regional Forester
USDA Forest Service
Pacific Southwest Region
1323 Club Drive
Vallejo, CA 94593
Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington D.C. 20510
(202) 224-3841
http://feinstein.senate.gov/email.html
Senator Barbara Boxer
United States Senate
112 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington D.C. 20510 (202) 224-3553
http://boxer.senate.gov/contact
Your Representative:
U.S. House of Representatives,
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 224-3121 TTY: (202) 225-1904
To Find Your
Representative:
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html
Stay up to
date on this issue:
Get on the
Sequoia ForestKeeper Mailing List and e-mail Alert List, send
your name, address, and email address to
valerie@sequoiaforestkeeper.org
Note: Special thanks
to Carla Cloer on all of her hard work on this issue, and
specifically for composing this alert!
•AND REMEMBER TO Ask your Representatives and Senators to use
their influence to get Sequoia Monument Management into the
capable hands of the Park Service, not as a National Park, but
as a National Monument managed consistent with the Proclamation
that created it! The Giant Sequoia National Monument deserves
the highest, best, and most responsible care possible
Please
click here to open the
link to view the map
SEQUOIA
MONUMENT ALERT #1: HELP TO SAVE THE GIANT SEQUOIA
NATIONAL MONUMENT!
*Note: Even though
it is too late to file an official complaint against the
Monument Management Plan, you can still register your disgust
about this damaging plan to the Forest Service. We also
encourage you to write your representatives about the importance
of protecting the Giant Sequoia National Monument. Thank
you for your help in preserving this national treasure!
There has never
been a more urgent time to take action on behalf of the Giant
Sequoia National Monument (Monument). On January 16, the Forest
Service released the Giant Sequoia National Monument Final
Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and Record of Decision
(ROD), which determines the management direction the Forest
Service will take in the Monument, for public review. Both the
FEIS and the ROD fail, in many ways, to implement the protective
purposes of the 2000 Presidential Proclamation (Proclamation)
that created the Monument. Forest Supervisor Art Gaffrey has
chosen Modified Alternative 6, the most ecologically damaging
and costly alternative, as the management plan for the
Monument.
Please
click here
to open the link to read the entire action alert for the Giant
Sequoia National Monument and sample letters.
U.S. FOREST
SERVICE PROPOSES LOGGING OF LARGE TREES IN AFTERMATH OF MCNALLY
FIRE
While some of
us were spending time with our families and friends, the Forest
Service released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the
Sherman Pass Restoration Project within the McNally Fire. In
releasing the DEIS at that time, many people did not have the
chance to read it and write comments on this project. So
Sequoia ForestKeeper did it for you!
It is
important that you all understand that we at Sequoia
ForestKeeper are not against post-fire restoration, just the
cutting of large trees in the name of forest rehabilitation.
Scientific studies have found that restoration is much more
effective and has less of a negative impact on species if
smaller trees, 15 inches in diameter and less, are taken out
after a fire.
Please read
the comment letter and send it to the e-mail address listed
below. You should feel free to revise the letter to make it
more personal. The letters will have greater impact if they do
not appear to be a form letter. It would be particularly useful
if each person could include one or two sentences concerning
their personal use and enjoyment of the Sequoia National Forest,
their concern about retaining intact habitats, and a statement
that they understand fires, and the resulting altered habitat,
to be a natural part of a healthy forest ecosystem. If you do
not have time to alter the letter, that is okay. As long as you
send it, we are happy! Also, please forward this alert to any
of your forest-loving friends, family, and co-workers.
After you have
altered your comment letter (if you wish) and added your name
and address at the bottom, please send it to:
comments-pacificsouthwest-sequoia@fs.fed.us
Comments are
due January 12, 2004
Please
click here
to open the link to read the comment letter for the
McNally/Sherman Pass Restoration Project.
To
read the alert you will need to have Adobe
Acrobat Reader. Most likely you
already have this software on your computer. If you don't,
you can go
here to get it for free.
U.S. FOREST
SERVICE PROPOSES BUSINESS-AS-USUAL LOGGING IN THE GIANT SEQUOIA
NATIONAL MONUMENT.
The Giant
Sequoia National Monument was created within the Sequoia
National Forest to forever protect the Giant Sequoia groves and
their surrounding ecosystems from the logging-oriented
management practices currently governing our National Forests.
The Giant Sequoia National Monument was created by withdrawing
329,000 acres from the Sequoia National Forest into Monument
protection. It was clear that without such protection, the
Giant Sequoia groves were in harm’s way.
As stated in
the Presidential Proclamation creating the Monument, monument
status was necessary “to counteract the effects of a century
of fire suppression and logging” that had occurred within
the Sequoia National Forest and to increase protection for the
objects and species within the Monument. The Proclamation
directs that the Monument lands are not within the timber base,
that commercial logging is not to occur within the Monument, and
that trees within the Monument are not to be removed except in
extraordinary circumstances.
Despite the
clear intent and language of the Proclamation, on December 12,
2002, the Forest Service, under the guidance of the Bush
administration, issued a draft environmental impact statement (“DEIS”)
outlining a Management plan for the Giant Sequoia National
Monument that is centered on logging. The Forest Service
proposes: logging to suppress fire; logging to restore Giant
Sequoia groves; logging to prevent disease and insect
occurrence; logging to protect the public from the trees within
the forest; and more logging to remedy the negative effects of
the Forest Service’s past logging and fire suppression
management activities.
The Forest
Service claims that logging of large trees is necessary to
prevent severe forest fires. Logging of large trees,
however, removes the most fire-resistant elements -- big trees
-- from the forest, reduces the cooling shade of the forest
canopy, and increases the drying wind. Highly flammable brush
grows in the open spaces where the logged trees once stood.
This brush is more flammable than the trees it replaces,
so wildfire intensity and severity is actually increased
a few years after supposed “fire prevention” logging occurs.
Please
click here
to open the link to read the rest of the Giant Sequoia National
Monument Action Alert and to get sample letters to respond to
this atrocity.
To
read the alert you will need to have Adobe
Acrobat Reader. Most likely you
already have this software on your computer. If you don't,
you can go
here to get it for free.
Help us keep loggers out of our
public monument!
EDUCATION PROGRAM
The Sequoia ForestKeeper educates the public about the benefits and resources of the Sequoia National Forest and Monument; the threats facing these resources; and the public's potential role in promoting environmental protections.
Most people are aware of the unique beauty and grandeur of the giant sequoias and the importance of protecting these groves. Unfortunately, the great majority of people are unaware that the continued health and vitality of the
sequoia forest, its ecosystems and watersheds are continually threatened by unsustainable logging practices, pesticide application, off-road vehicle use and a myriad of other destructive activities. People also tend to believe that lands set aside as national monuments are protected from exploitation -- they do not realize that such protections may easily be circumvented under a poorly drafted management plan or through giant loopholes euphemistically labeled "forest health," "hazard tree removal," "public safety", "restoration" and "fire protection."
The SFK's educational programs are designed to communicate to people the importance of these areas; to alert the public to threats to the Sequoia National Forest and Monument; and to empower people to take productive actions to protect those resources. This includes the "Stroll through the Sequoias" community education program and the "Fire Research and Education"
program.
MONITORING & SURVEY
PROGRAM
One of the primary goals of the SFK is to act as the eyes and ears of the Sequoia National Forest and National Monument. A long-standing impediment to effective forest conservation efforts has been a lack of quality information about forest health, wildlife status, ecosystems, habitat values, water quality, use impacts, and industry compliance with existing regulatory rules and mitigation requirements.
Through monitoring and survey programs, SFK seeks to increase the available pool of data on these types of issues. Such data can be used to ensure that decision makers and the public are more fully informed about the potential effects of activities proposed in the
sequoia area. Detailed data can be submitted in administrative proceedings such as timber sale processes, rulemakings, permit hearings and legal proceedings. Data can be used to inform legislators about the inadequacies of existing legislation. Data can also be shared with working scientists, scholars and students to highlight the benefits of quality information and the need for further study.
Methods of Data Development
- Create a network of volunteer "Forest and Wildlife Watchers" to track forest and wildlife conditions
- Work closely with scientists and forestry experts and professionals
- Develop and maintain databases of information collected so that such information can be effectively utilized by SFK and the public at large
- Foot and aerial surveys
- Observation of logging practices and compliance
- Track species status
- Monitor activities of regulatory agencies
- Gather scientific studies and information on alternative methods
- Develop and run hands-on student monitoring programs
ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM
Public resource agencies often lack the will, the resources,
and/or the ability to protect the resources of which they are stewards. SFK acts to enforce existing laws and regulations when public agencies fail to do so.
Enforcement Activities
- Monitor regulatory actions and proposals
- "Protect the Monument" Enforcement Program
- Review logging proposals, land use plans, timber sales, water quality permits, etc., for compliance with state and federal laws
- Submit written comments to appropriate agencies on plans, sales, decisions, permits not in compliance with state and federal laws and attend hearings
- Submit administrative appeals of plans, sale decisions, etc.
- Conduct litigation where administrative forums are unsuccessful in achieving appropriate compliance with laws and protections for resources at
issue
OTHER ACTIVITIES
- Develop, foster and maintain working relationships with agency personnel and decision-makers (Forest Service, Water quality control board, etc.)
- Monitor and participate in Monument planning and development of management plan
- Monitor and respond to pending legislation
- Conduct policy analysis/legislative analysis
- Conduct limited legislative advocacy (i.e., lobbying activities)
- Create a "State of the Forest" Report
- Develop working relationships with science experts
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