FW: Forest bill alert URGENT

[John Howe]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 18:03:10 -0700 (PDT)
From: jasper eiler <jaspereiler at yahoo.com>
Subject: Fwd: Forest bill alert URGENT

Note: forwarded message attached.

*******************************
     URGENT ALERT            AUGUST 2000
     from the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters (BACH)
*******************************


   SUPPORT NEEDED FOR AB 717

  ACTION NEEDED  NEXT WEEK
     Sorry for the late notice! Please take action if you can!

Many subscribers to this list have followed the progress of
California State Assembly Bill 717, and have written letters or made
phone calls at critical times. The bill's author, Assembly Speaker
Pro Tem Fred Keeley (D-Boulder Creek), has been very responsive to
the concerns of grassroots forest activists despite intense
opposition from logging industry representatives.

In keeping with this grassroots focus, Mr. Keeley recently amended
the bill to address a problem plaguing all forested areas of the
state: clearcutting. California's largest landowner, Sierra Pacific
Industries, has increased clearcutting on its lands by more than 2000
percent in the past eight years. The company recently announced plans
to change its management strategy on more than a million acres from
selective logging to clearcutting.

Clearcutting, while it may make a handful of distant investors happy
with this quarter's returns, is incredibly destructive of both
natural and human communities over the long term. Clearcutting
fragments forest habitat, exposes soils to erosion, requires the
heavy use of toxic herbicides, and increases the risk of landslides.
It also converts diverse natural forests into heavily managed fiber
farms that are
burned, sprayed, thinned and clearcut all over again in a few short
decades. Lower-quality wood, increased mechanization, fewer jobs, and
horrendous blights on formerly scenic mountainsides are the fruits of
this short-sighted type of logging. In California's changing rural
economies, where tourism is replacing timber as a primary source of
income, clearcutting has outlived its usefulness. The costs, both
ecological and economic, are simply too high to justify this kind of
intensive logging.

The new language, responsive to the concerns of grassroots forest
activists throughout the state, would do the following:
     -- impose an initial 2-year moratorium on clearcutting and other
     intensive forestry practices beginning January 1, 2001
     -- require retention of a minimum number of larger trees across
     the landscape
     -- set up a scientific panel to evaluate clearcutting and alternative
     forestry methods in light of public values like water quality, fisheries,
     wildlife and recreation
     -- automatically extend the moratorium for 2 years if the Legislature
     fails to act on the scientific panel's proposals by January 1, 2003

Grassroots support and organizing will be absolutely critical to this
bill's success!

The first hurdle to clear will be the Senate Natural Resources
Committee, followed quickly thereafter by the Senate Appropriations
Committee. Then the bill faces tough floor votes in both the Senate
and the Assembly. The timeline for the bill's passage is extremely
tight as both houses must take final votes by midnight on August 31!

PLEASE TAKE A FEW MOMENTS TO MAKE A CALL OR SEND A LETTER IN SUPPORT
OF AB 717! A SAMPLE LETTER FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE IS ATTACHED AT THE
END OF THIS ALERT.


Letters to Senate Appropriations Committee
Timeline: IMMEDIATE
Targets: Senator Patrick Johnston (Chair), D-Stockton/Tracy/Sacramento
	Phone: (916) 445-2407	Fax: for constituents only	Room 5066

	Senator Debra Bowen, D-Marina del Rey
	Phone: (916) 445-5953	Fax: not available		Room 4040

	Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco/Marin/Sonoma
	Phone: (916) 445-1412	Fax: (916) 445-4722		Room 205

	Senator Martha Escutia, D-Montebello
	Phone: (916) 327-8315	Fax: not available		Room 5064

	Senator Betty Karnette, D-Long Beach
	Phone: (916) 445-6447	Fax: (916) 327-9113		Room 3086

	Senator Bruce McPherson, R-Santa Cruz
	Phone: (916) 445-5843	Fax: (916) 445-8081		Room 3076

	Senator Don Perata, D-Alameda
	Phone: (916) 445-6577	Fax: not available		Room 4061

	Senator John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara
	Phone: (916) 445-9740	Fax: (916) 324-0283		Room 4074

More info:  http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/ -- Bill Information – AB 717
---------------------------------------------------

SAMPLE LETTER
This letter is pre-formatted for use in contacting state legislators. It
also can be easily modified for use as a letter to the editor of your
local newspaper!

Date

Senator/Assembly Member _____,
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814

RE: AB 717 (SUPPORT)

Dear Senator/Assembly Member _____,

I am writing to urge your strong support for AB 717 (Keeley). This bill
responds to the concerns of California's forest communities, throughout
the Sierra Nevada and along the coast, by instituting a temporary
moratorium on the harmful practice of clearcutting.

Clearcutting destroys California's vibrant, diverse forests where
hundreds of different plant and animal species live. These forests are
replaced with row after row of closely spaced trees of a single species,
sometimes even cloned trees. Nothing else is allowed to grow. Any
unwanted plants that manage to spring up get sprayed with toxic
herbicides that have been shown to contaminate groundwater supplies.

While landowners have a right to use their private property, they must
do so without harming public values such as water, fish, and wildlife.
Excessive clearcutting threatens these precious public resources.

AB 717 calls a much-needed "time out" for clearcutting. It also
establishes a panel of independent experts to review its impacts and
recommend better alternatives. The Legislature can then use this
information to craft balanced provisions that protect the public's
interests while allowing the timber industry to operate profitably.

Please support AB 717 when it comes before you for a vote this summer,
and help California address this growing forest crisis.

Sincerely,
[your name and address -- important]



----------------------------------------------------------------------
THIS ALERT SUPPLIED BY:

Environmental Protection Information Center
PO Box 397, Garberville CA 95542
(707) 923-2931  fax (707) 923-4210
epic at wildcalifornia.org
www.wildcalifornia.org

and sent out by the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters

Repost in entirety at will; please include all contact info.

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------------
Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters (BACH)
Ecology Center
2530 San Pablo Ave.
Berkeley, CA  94702
phone: 510 548 3113
email: bach at igc.org

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