Adapted from an Action Alert from Rene Voss, Vice-chair of Forest Reform Campaign Steering Committee of the Sierra Club
Your help is urgently needed to get co-sponsors for the "National Forest Protection and Restoration Act" (H.R. 2789), which was introduced into the House of Representatives on October 31st, 1997 by Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) and Rep. Jim Leach (R-IA, Chairman of the House Banking and Financial Services Committee). This important bill will:
1) Protect our National Forests and other federal public lands nationwide by ending the ecologically destructive timber sales program;
2) Redirect timber subsidies into worker retraining and ecological restoration; and
3) Save taxpayers at least $300 million annually.
We need your help to generate as many letters and phone calls as possible into your Congressional Representative's office, urging him or her to be a co-sponsor of H.R. 2789, the National Forest Protection and Restoration Act (the "McKinney/Leach bill"). The message is simple and is most effective put into your own words as a hand-written letter. Keep the letter to one page and include any talking points you feel are most persuasive. Please ask friends and/or family members to write and call too. The letter should include a statement similar to this:
"I want Representative ( ___________ to be a co-sponsor of the National Forest Protection and Restoration Act (H.R. 2789)."
Write to: Representative _____________(in West Virginia, Nick Rahall, Bob Wise or Alan Mollohan) U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515
To call your Representative's office, dial the Capitol Switchboard at 800-504-0031 or 202-224-3121 and ask for their office. Say that you would like to leave a message for the Representative (use the same message as above), and ask for a response (leave your address).
A brief list of talking points and key facts are included below for use in your letters. Another great way to get your message out to influence your member of Congress is by sending a letter-to-the-editor to your local paper. This is the paper he/she is most likely to read.
Take action today!
For more information, please contact Rene Voss at:
1025 Vermont Ave. NW #300
Washington, DC 20005 Tel: (202)879-3183 Fax: (202)879-4282
rene.voss@mindspring.com
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Points you might wish to make in letters or other communications.
Our National Forests are far more valuable for their natural heritage of clear lakes and streams, habitat for fish and wildlife, and great natural beauty than they are for use by private industry as commercial wood lots. Commercial timber production is not the best use of National Forest land, especially when over 95% of our country's original ancient forests have been logged already -- and what remains is almost entirely found on federal lands.
We simply don't need to log National Forests for our timber supply. Timber from National Forests provide only 3.9% of the United States' annual wood consumption. We can more than make that up by increasing recycling, using alternative materials, and by stopping the export of raw logs and wood chips from the U.S.
Emphasize the money-losing nature of the timber sales program on federal public lands. The timber industry has no adequate defense for this. Almost every--if not every--National Forest in the nation is now operating at a net loss to taxpayers.
Point out that ending the timber sale program will allow Congress to re-direct some of the current annual timber subsidy into ecological restoration of our nation's forest ecosystems which have been damaged by commercial logging. It will also allow Congress to fund worker retraining.
Emphasize public opinion. Ending timber sales on federal public lands represents the will of a majority of Americans. Even the Forest Service's own poll shows that a majority of Americans oppose the use of our public lands to produce commodities. The American people want their National Forests protected, and special interest handouts eliminated.
Take the offensive stance. There is simply no justification, ecologically or economically for continuing the timber sales program on federal public lands. The burden of proof is not on those who want to end logging on public lands; it is on those who suggest it should continue.
The National Forest timber sales program operated at a net loss to taxpayers of at least $791 million in fiscal year 1996, and returned $0 (no receipts) to taxpayers (this fact was validated by the Congressional Research Service).
Logging on National Forests increases the risk of forest fires more than any other human activity, according to the government's own study.
If we ended the timber sales program on National Forests and redirected the logging subsidy, we could provide over $25,000 for each public lands timber worker for retraining or ecological restoration work--and still have over $200 million left over to reduce the federal deficit in the first year alone.
The Forest Service's own nationwide poll found that most Americans oppose commodity production, including commercial logging, on National Forests.