9/22/2003

From: alra@governance.net
Subject: Senate Vote On Healthy Forests

Land Rights Network
American Land Rights Rights Association
PO Box 400 – Battle Ground, WA 98604
Phone: 360-687-3087 – Fax: 360-687-2973 – E-mail: alra@landrights.org
Web Address: http://www.landrights.org
Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE – Washington, DC 20003
Phone: 202-210-2357 – Fax: 202-543-7126 – E-mail: landrightsnet@aol.com


Senate Vote On Healthy Forests 


You’ve seen the forest fires.  TV almost every day has new pictures of houses going up in smoke.  The B & B Complex fire in Oregon is still not out and has burned over 90,000 acres.

And the Senate fiddles.

Hundreds of homes have been lost in Arizona.  More have burned in other states.  The environmental groups keep stalling trying to head off a vote in the Senate.

And the Senate fiddles.

Thinning our forests, making them healthy again is the answer.  It is a huge job that even to be effective next year, must start now.

And the Senate fiddles.

The U.S. Senate is considering the Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HR 1904).  It deserves a vote this month!  There's no time to stall.  Catastrophic fires continue to destroy habitat for wildlife, water and air quality.  The Senate is still using HR 1904 that passed the House overwhelmingly last spring.  The House did their job.  It is time for the Senate to do its job.

This should not be a partisan issue.  Please support the Healthy Forests Restoration Act now before we devastate our environment even more!

HERE’S WHATS HAPPENING.

There have been threats of a filibuster.  Negotiations are taking place right now over if and when there will be a vote.  To win, Healthy Forest advocates must get sixty votes to overcome any threatened filibuster.

The Senate needs to set a date and time for the vote.

Your calls and faxes to the following Senators are critical to push the issue to a resolution.  THE SENATE NEEDS TO VOTE.

Right now, the Healthy Forests Restoration Act is being delayed by the environmental groups who would rather have your house burn down than have foresters clean up the forests or log a burned or bug killed tree.  

One of our members wrote to me years ago to say:  “The environmentalists have become like a new religion, a new paganism.  They worship trees and sacrifice people”    Lily Fleder, Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area (Ohio) (A Park Service area). 

The fiddling must stop.

You, and every person you know, must call your Senators NOW!!!  Urge them to do their job.  Urge them to do it now.


THIS  IS  AN  ALL  OUT  CALL  TO  ACTION.

ACTION ITEMS:

-----1.  Call both your Senators to urge them to support the Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HR 1904).  You can call every Senator at (202) 224-3121.  Or, just for fun, use the GREENS own 800 FREE NUMBER, 800-839-5276.  Tie this number up.  Another FREE NUMBER  is (800) 648-3516.   	

-----2.  Call the Senators listed below.  They are key to whether there is a vote and when it is scheduled.  Urge them to allow a straight up or down vote on the Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HR 1904).  Put your Senator on the spot.  Ask if he or she is going to allow a straight up or down vote.  Urge them not to filibuster to prevent a vote.   More  talking points are listed below.

Max Baucus (D-MT) -- Phone (202) 224-2651 – FAX (202) 228-3687
Kent Conrad (D-ND) – Phone (202) 224-2043 – FAX (202) 224-7776
Byron Dorgan (D-ND) – Phone (202) 224-2551—FAX (202) 224-1193
Tom Daschle (D-SD – Phone (202) 224-2321 – FAX (202) 224-6603
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) – Phone (202 224-3841 – FAX (202) 228-3954
Tim Johnson (D-SD – Phone (202) 224-5842 – FAX (202) 228-5765
John McCain (R-AZ) – Phone (202) 224-2235 – FAX (202 228-2862
Patty Murray (D-WA) – Phone (202) 224-2621 – FAX (202) 224-0238
Harry Reid (D-NV) – Phone (202) 224-3542 – FAX (202) 224-7327
Ron Wyden (D-OR) – Phone (202) 224-5244 – FAX (202) 228-2717

-----3.  Send your Senators e-mail.  It is possible to access your Senators' web pages to find fax numbers, email addresses and snail mail addresses at:

  http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.


The greens are calling.  EVERY  SENATOR  MUST  BE  CALLED  TO  BALANCE OUT THE GREENS. 


TALKING POINTS.

The Senate is now addressing the forest health issue through The Healthy Forests Restoration Act.  The premise of the debate is simple and clear: Given the massive scale of the threat that catastrophic wildfire and disease and insect infestation pose to the health of pristine forest ecosystems, threatened and endangered species, air quality, water quality and the safety of thousands of communities, something needs to be done!  

America’s forest ecosystems are being decimated at an alarming rate by large-scale catastrophic wildfires and massive outbreaks of disease, insect infestation and invasive species.  Currently 190 million acres of land are at unnatural risk to catastrophic wildfire.  Of that, over 70 million acres are at extreme risk to catastrophic wildfire in the immediate future.  The summers of 2000 and 2002 were the two largest and most-destructive fire seasons in the last 50 years.   Huge areas have already burned this summer.

For 100 years land managers have aggressively moved to suppress wildland fire in all forms, including nature’s periodic small scale burnings that restore and rejuvenate forest ecosystems.  The unintended result of this policy is a decades-long build up forest fuel, woody biomass and dense underbrush that's as close as the next lightning strike or escaped camp fire from exploding into a large-scale wildfire. 

In 2002 (and already in 2003), hundreds of homes and other structures were destroyed, and thousands of people were evacuated.  23 firefighters lost their lives in 2002.  The American taxpayers spent in excess of $1.5 billion containing 2002’s record setting blazes.  Rural economies that rely on tourism suffered significant financial losses.

The House has done its job.  Your Senators must now do theirs.  They must address the forest health issue through The Healthy Forests Restoration Act (still called HR 1904, the House passed version).  

The Healthy Forests Restoration Act will protect forests and resources…but also homes and communities by allowing for the thinning of diseased and fire-prone forests.  

We must bring common-sense, science-based forest management to our federal lands….and stop the never-ending stall tactics and litigation which has crippled the process for the past decade.

The bill would empower federal land managers with the tools to implement scientifically supported management practices on overstocked federal forests, while establishing new conservation programs focused on improving water quality and regenerating declining forest ecosystem types on non-federal lands.

This legislation is crucial for protecting our air, water and wildlife from insect infestations and catastrophic wildfires.  The status quo of government bureaucracy has lead to a sharp decline in the health of the forests.  


THIS  IS  YOUR  CHANCE  TO  MAKE  A  DIFFERENCE.

HELP  BRING  AN  END  TO  THIS  FIRE  MADNESS.

INSIST ON A VOTE NOW!!


Please forward this message as widely as possible.




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