[Davis Democrats] FW: URGENT: Only One Week Left to STOP the Fire Sale of Our National Forests!

[John Chendo]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Activists <activist.thepen at gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2006 22:47:37 -0800
To: <jac07 at dcn.org>
Subject: URGENT: Only One Week Left to STOP the Fire Sale of Our National
Forests!


STOP BUSH'S PLAN TO SELL OFF OUR NATIONAL FORESTS

Paul Richards, Democratic candidate for Senate in Montana and courageous
lifelong advocate for the environment, is leading the fight to stop the
reckless decimation of our national forests.  Please read Paul's personal
message to you below, and join him in being a champion for our forest
heritage by submitting this action page.

ACTION PAGE: http://www.richards2006.us/petitions/pnum226.php

After six years of undermining protections for public lands and forests,
President Bush's FY 2007 budget proposes to sell more than a quarter of a
million acres of public lands.  This is another example of the Bush
administration's loyalty to the logging, oil and gas industries.  According
to the New York Times, the Department of Interior's budget documents show
that they plan to allow companies to pump about  billion in oil and natural
gas without paying royalties.

A total of 304,370 acres of national forests across the country would be up
for auction under the President's proposal; including over 12,000 acres in
Montana (my home state), 75,000 acres in California, 25,000 acres in Idaho,
21,000 acres in Colorado and 21,000 acres in Missouri, 17,000 in Wyoming and
15,000 in South Dakota.  Many of the lands up for sale provide important
wildlife habitat, clean drinking water and air, and a natural legacy for
future generations.

ACTION PAGE: http://www.richards2006.us/petitions/pnum226.php

We only have until March 30 to get our comments into the National Forest
Service.  Please join me in telling the Forest Service not to sell off our
public lands to environmentally hostile corporations and condo developers!

Thank you,

Paul Richards

**********

BACKGROUND

The Administration claims that selling forests managed by the U. S. Forest
Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is necessary to generate
million to "offset" payments to rural schools.  The permanent sale of these
forestlands will only temporarily fund the program.  This land sale proposal
comes only a month after Congress, in the face of widespread, bi-partisan
opposition, stripped Representative Pombo's scheme to sell millions of acres
of national forests and parks for private development from the federal
budget bill.

The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination (SRS) Act of 2000
ended the perverse incentive of funding rural schools and county roads from
logging sales on national forests by guaranteeing funding to counties based
on historic levels of logging revenue.  The bill is up for reauthorization
in September 2006.  The Bush Administration wants to sell national forests
to fund the SRS program.  This is an irresponsible move.  Our children's
education should be paid for responsibly with a dependable funding source -
not by recklessly pawning our national forest inheritance.

The President's proposal has generated a fury among lawmakers on both sides
of the aisle, but it's critical that the Forest Service and BLM and Congress
hear FROM every state.

Click here for the complete list of places that have been proposed for this
sale:
http://www.fs.fed.us/land/staff/rural_schools.shtml

Click here to see recent press on the public forests land sale: Recent Press
on Land Sale:
http://www.americanlands.org/news.php?subsubNo=1090602339&article=1142525819

TAKE ACTION

ACTION PAGE: http://www.richards2006.us/petitions/pnum226.php

Please take a moment and let the Forest Service know that you oppose selling
national forestland.  Comments on the proposed land sale must be received by
March 30.  The action page above will automatically send your personal
message by email.   Written comments may be sent to: USDA Forest Service,
SRS Comments, Lands 4S, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Mailstop 1124,
Washington, DC, 20250-0003. Send faxed comments to (202) 205-1604.

SAMPLE LETTER TO FOREST SERVICE

USDA Forest Service
SRS Comments, Lands 4S
1400 Independence Ave., SW, Mailstop 1124
Washington, DC, 20250-0003
Dear Forest Service,

I am writing you to oppose any sale of national forests or BLM land to fund
the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination (SRS) Program.
The proposed auction of more than a quarter of a million acres of public
forests around the country would do irreparable harm to our national forest
system.  The lands, which would be lost forever provide important wildlife
habitat, clean drinking water and air, and a natural legacy.  As wealthiest
nation in the world, we can afford to preserve our public lands and pay for
our children's education.

Education and our national forest heritage are investments for future
generations.  It is irresponsible to ask us to choose between these
essential responsibilities of our government.  This one-time sale of
valuable national forests would permanently harm the national forest system
and could only temporarily fund the Secure Rural Schools program; it's not a
solution to the problem of under-funded rural education.  Our children and
rural communities deserve a dependable source of income for education that
does not rely on the reckless pawning of public lands.

When Teddy Roosevelt and other Administrations during the last century
created the 193-million-acre National Forest System, they intended for these
lands to be preserved forever as a public trust and managed for the good of
all Americans.  The proposed auction of hundreds of thousands of acres
without an equal or greater increase in protected acreage is a direct
assault on the idea of a dedicated National Forest system.

Don't ask Americans which national forests you should sell; it's a
disservice for the Forest Service to even consider the idea.  This proposal
is in direct opposition to your agency's mission and reason for existence.
Financial challenges always cause us to reassess our priorities.  Selling
our natural forest heritage to pay for other government programs is
unacceptable.

Sincerely,

Your Name

Address

**********

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be
ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.

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