Dr. E.O. Wilson, Greenpeace and the National Forest Protection
Alliance
Warn of “Endangered Forests, Endangered Freedoms
WASHINGTON — A nationwide coalition of environmental groups
released a new report today that identifies the national forests at
greatest risk from logging and documents the Bush Administration’s
attempts to eliminate public oversight of environmental laws.
Greenpeace and the National Forest Protection Alliance (NFPA)
released Endangered Forests, Endangered Freedoms in response to the
Administration’s unprecedented attacks on America’s national
forests. Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Dr. E.O. Wilson of Harvard
University joined the groups to call for an end to logging in these
national treasures.
“Scientists have reached a deeper understanding of the value of
the National Forest System that needs to be kept front and center,”
said Dr. Wilson. “Our national forests represent a public trust too
valuable to be managed as tree farms for the production of pulp,
paper and lumber. The time has come to free national forests from
political partisanship, and to use their treasures to benefit all
Americans.”
Forests were selected based on several criteria, including water
quality, road construction, the presence of endangered and
threatened species, timber sale volume and economics, and the
percentage of remaining old-growth and roadless areas. Chosen as
the 10 most endangered forests were Apache-Sitgreaves National
Forest (Ariz.), Bitterroot National Forest (Mont.), Black Hills
National Forest (S.D.), Chequamegan-Nicolet National Forest (Wis.),
George Washington-Jefferson National Forest (Va.), Kootenai
National Forest (Mont.), Mississippi’s National Forests (Miss.),
Plumas National Forest (Calif.), Tongass National Forest (Alaska),
and Umpqua National Forest (Ore.)
“Endangered Forests, Endangered Freedoms provides the American
public with a detailed and scientific account of the current
ecological state of the National Forest system,” said Jake
Kreilick, Project Coordinator of NFPA. “By citing direct evidence
of environmental damage in 10 particularly endangered forests, it
paints a grim picture of the Bush Administration’s mismanagement of
our precious public lands.”
The report lists specific actions taken by the Bush
Administration to achieve its pro-logging agenda, namely:
limiting the public’s right to participate in decisions
affecting their public lands;
using stealthy administrative rule changes to undermine
fundamental environmental laws, such as the National Environmental
Policy Act and the National Forest Management Act;
using the threat of wildfires to give timbers companies access
to remote intact forests for logging;
dismantling rules that protect forests from roadbuilding and
commercial development; and
turning over large tracts of National Forest land to logging
companies under the guise of “Stewardship Contracting.”
“This fight is not just about saving trees,” said John
Passacantando, Executive Director of Greenpeace. “We are fighting
for the principle that some places in this country are so special
that they belong to all Americans. And we are fighting for the
right of the people to have a say in the future of those
places.”
The report also gave special mention to Allegheny National
Forest (Pa.), the Medford Bureau of Land Management District (Ore.)
and Sequoia National Monument/Forest (Calif.). Nine other forests
were listed as “threatened:” Cherokee National Forest (Tenn.),
Clearwater National Forest (Idaho), Idaho Panhandle National Forest
(Idaho), Kaibab National Forest (Ariz.), Mount Hood National Forest
(Ore.), Monongahela National Forest (W.Va), Ottawa National Forest
(Mich.), Ouachita National Forest (Ark./Okla.) and Sumter National
Forest (S.C.).
Speakers at the press conference highlighted an alternative to
Bush’s logging plans, the National Forest Protection and
Restoration Act (H.R. 2169), which would end the costly practice of
taxpayer-subsidized logging in national forests while providing
true relief to areas threatened by wildfire. Rep. Leach, a longtime
advocate for protecting the nation’s natural heritage, is the
primary sponsor of the bill, which has gained the bipartisan
support of 90 co-sponsors so far.
In a statement, Rep. Leach said, “These are the nations’
forests, enjoyed by, but also entrusted to, all of us. Common sense
dictates that fragile federal land should be appropriately
protected by federal laws, but this report argues that we are
moving in the opposite direction. If we are to redeem the future of
our public lands, we must protect what remains of our national
forests.”
The National Forest Protection
Alliance, which includes Greenpeace, is a coalition of 120
grassroots conservation groups from all over the U.S. committed to
ending the commercial exploitation of federal public lands,
beginning with the federal timber sale program. The report’s
release coincides with National Forest Protection Lobby Week, in
which activists from all over the country have come to Washington,
D.C. to pressure Congress to protect and restore our national
forests. In late June, NFPA and Greenpeace will be holding an
“action camp” in Montana, a week-long training on nonviolent
tactics and methods of protecting America’s endangered forests.
