Send Your Roadless Comments TODAY!

Wilderness Act Turns 40: and Needs Your Help TODAY.

 

If you enjoy clean water, forested vistas, multiday river trips, and all things wild:  today is the day you need to take 5 minutes out of your day to protect your favorite wild places.

 

In mid July, the Bush Administration proposed to repeal the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, putting 58.5 million acres of our national forests at risk to destructive road-building, logging and drilling. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

The public spoke out in unprecedented numbers (1.6 million comments, 95% in favor) to encourage Clinton to sign the Rule into law and now we must all step up again to voice our support for the protection of our roadless lands.  A public comment period started on July 9, 2004 and ends on September 14, 2004.  We need to generate as many comments as possible in order to let the administration know that the public wants our national forests protected and not given away to corporate interests.  While President Clinton's administration hosted 200 public meetings and solicited a record number of public comments over a 2 year period on the the original roadless rule, the Bush Administration is trying to sneak a repeal of the roadless rule past the American Public through an unpublicized 2 month comment period with NO public meetings. 

 

We need to send a and clear and powerful message that we will not tolerate the administration giving our national forests away.  Please forward this action alert to your members, friends, family and coworkers and encourage them to participate in the protection of our last wild forests by submitting comments.  Filing comments in opposition of the new repeal of the roadless rule will not lead to any road closures, it will simply prevent the construction of new roads. 

 

American Whitewater celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, while the Wilderness Act celebrates its 40.  50 years ago a group of paddlers witnessed the ever encroaching effects of timber harvesting and development and sought to protect the wilderness character of our rivers.  Those paddlers organized American Whitewater and began a legacy of work to protect wild whitewater rivers.  The Wilderness Act and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act became primary tools for accomplishing our mission and they remain so today.  Wild Rivers are at the core value system of our organization:  they are a scarce and dwindling resource that we must strive to defend.  Protecting the Roadless Area Conservation Rule is one of the most important river conservation challenges of 2004, as well as this decade.     

 

Roadless comments must be received by the FS Comment Analysis Team in Utah by the 14th of September.  Any comments received after close of business on September 14th, will NOT be included in the Forest Service's/Dept of Agriculture's official count. 

 

PLEASE CONSIDER WRITING AN EMAIL OR A LETTER, DO IT TODAY!

 

SEND A COMMENT:  IT IS EASY!

 

Send a personal email to statepetitionroadless@fs.fed.us. 

 

Submit an easy online comment at http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/bush_giveaway/step1.tcl

 

Send a letter to: Content Analysis Team, ATTN:  Roadless State Petitions, USDA Forest Service, P.O. Box 221090, Salt Lake City, UT 84122

 

Personal substantive comment letters are always the best, but send your comment in whatever way you have time for.  Make it personal, because this is a personal issue.  To see a sample comment letter go to:  http://www.americanlands.org/sample%20roadless%20comment%20letter.doc

 

For more background check out:

 

http://roadless.fs.fed.us/documents/id_07/2004_07_12_state_petition_proposed_rule.html

 

and

 

http://www.americanlands.org/Roadlessanalysis.doc

 

Remember, Rivers Can't Vote, But You Can...