Kevin Webb
Food Circles Networking Project
Department of Rural Sociology
University of Missouri-Columbia
105 Sociology
Columbia, MO 65211
(573) 882-3776
[573] 882=1473 (fax)
webbk@missouri.edu
-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Webb [mailto:worldwidewebb01@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, September 27, 1999 10:56 AM
To: webbk@missouri.edu
Subject: Fwd: Mid-September Heartwood Action Alerts
--- "Devin M. Scherubel" <devin@heartwood.org> wrote:
> Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999 14:47:49 -0400
> To: info@heartwood.org
> From: "Devin M. Scherubel" <devin@heartwood.org>
> Subject: Mid-September Heartwood Action Alerts
>
> Heartwood Action Alerts -- Mid-September, 1999
>
> --- Protecting and Restoring the Native Forests of
> the Midwest and
> Appalachia ---
>
> Please redistribute widely.
>
> This issue:
>
> 1. Help stop the tragedy of Mountain Top Removal
> Coal Mining
> 2. Cherokee National Forest Alert
> 3. Stop Crucial Anti-Environmental Riders!
> 4. Demand Full Citizen Participation in Wisconsin FS
> Decisions
> 5. Oppose Forest Products Trade Liberalization
> 6. Comment to USFWS to Protect Lynx
> 7. Hoosier NF Planning Begun
>
> To unsubscribe from this action alert list, change
> your email address,
> or add a friend, send email to Devin at
> devin@heartwood.org
>
> More information, sample letters and more frequent
> updates, are available
> through the Heartwood Web Site,
> http://www.heartwood.org/
>
> PLEASE: SUBMIT ACTION ALERT ITEMS FROM YOUR
> FOREST!!!
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 1. Help stop the tragedy of Mountain Top Removal
> Coal Mining
>
> In West Virginia, we have already lost 300,000 acres
> of our hardwood
> forests and 1,000 miles of headwater streams to
> mountaintop removal. Our
> children and grandchildren deserve better than this
> tragic legacy from the
> coal industry.
>
> WRITE TO JUDGE HADEN!
>
> Judge Haden wants citizen comments before he allows
> a "consent decree"
> approving a massive mountaintop removal/valley fill
> project in WV to
> proceed. The 45-day comment-period ends Sept.30 .
> The judge has promised to
> read all citizen letters before he rules on the
> issue. Your voice WILL be
> heard!
>
> For background information on Mountain Top Removal
> Mining, please see
> http://www.ohvec.org/Mountains02.htm
>
> Please write from your heart. Your comments do not
> need to be technical.
> The judge wants to know specific ways mountaintop
> removal hurts you,
> offends you or threatens your future well-being.
> Even if you do not live in
> a community directly impacted by mountaintop
> removal, you can still be hurt
> by this devastating practice. The following are
> examples:
>
> · If you grieve the loss of streams, forests,
> communities, Appalachian
> mountain heritage, and wildlife habitat.
>
> · If you fear the negative effects on the state's
> drinking water.
>
> · If you feel sick when you see the giant drag
> lines ripping down the
> mountains and dumping them into the adjacent
> valleys.
>
> A short, personal letter in your own words is fine.
> Our specific concerns
> about the consent decree are:
>
> 1-The consent decree leaves much to the discretion
> of the Division for
> Environmental Protection (DEP). WV DEP has
> repeatedly shown themselves to
> be more concerned with shielding coal companies than
> serving the public
> interest. The WV DEP is currently under the
> direction of another coal
> industry advocate.
>
> 2-The consent decree allows coal companies to
> justify mountaintop removal
> with post-mined land uses of commercial woodlands
> and homesteading. Even if
> implementation were possible, these provisions
> cannot replace the permanent
> loss of headwater streams, diverse Appalachian
> hardwood forests, and
> close-knit mountain community life.
>
> 3-The consent decree does not assure that large
> scale mountaintop removal
> will be adequately scaled back. The approximate
> original contour provisions
> require that more earth be put back on top of the
> mined area but set no
> limits on the depth of the cuts into the mountains
> (often over 600 ft), or
> length of streams that can be filled.
>
> It would be especially good to write and tell the
> judge how you feel about
> the destruction to watersheds. The judge will soon
> be ruling on the stream
> buffer zone, which is not addressed in the consent
> decree. He needs to know
> your feelings about burying streams with former
> mountains. A strong ruling
> in our favor on the buffer zone issue will limit
> industry's ability to
> indiscriminately trash valuable headwater streams
> and thereby limit the
> size of mining operations themselves.
>
> Please write today and encourage a friend to do the
> same. Send letters by
> September 30th to:
>
> Honorable Judge Charles C. Haden, II
> Clerk; United States District Court
> P.O. Box 3924
> Charleston, WV 25339
>
> For more information, please call:
> OVEC at 304-522-0246
> Or
> Cindy Rank, WV Highlands Conservancy Mining Chair at
> 304-924-5801 (h), 304-924-6263 (w)
>
> The consent decree can be found online at:
> www.fedcourtwvsd.com
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 2. Cherokee National Forest Alert
>
> The Center for Appalachian Trail Studies is
> sponsoring an online
> letter-writing campaign to encourage Congress to
> budget funding for the
> purchase of the Gulf Tract in Cocke County,
> Tennessee, in the Fiscal Year
> 2000 budget. This 6,800 acre tract of land, which is
> bordered for six miles
> by the Appalachian Trail, is in danger of being
> developed for recreational
> home use. The Forest Service is negotiating to buy
> the land for inclusion
> as part of Cherokee National Forest, but needs
> funding from Congress.
>
> We need you to write a letter urging Congress to
> budget money for the
> purchase of the Gulf Tract.
>
> Using our on-line letter-writing section, interested
> individuals can write
> a letter in their own words and transmit it
> automatically to key members of
> the Senate and House Appropriations Committees, and
> they will also receive
> a copy of their comments with addresses and
> instructions for sending them
> by regular mail to key House members who do not have
> e-mail available for
> public access.
>
> The Gulf Tract letter-writing section is online at:
> http://trailplace.com/gulf/gulf_index.html
>
> Thank you for your help.
>
> Dan "Wingfoot" Bruce
> Center for Appalachian Trail Studies
> Hot Springs, NC 28743
> 828-622-7601
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 3. Stop Crucial Anti-Environmental Riders!
>
> It is not to late for the Senate to remove all
> anti-environmental
> riders from the Interior Appropriations bill (SB
> 1292). This Monday, Sept.
> 20 has been declared national call-in day. Please
> call your senators and
> ask them to vote "no" on this bill until these
> riders are removed. The
> senate main phone # Is (1-202-224-3121) or go to
> http://www.senate.gov to
> find your senators.
>
> Two riders in particular have been identified by
> Heartwood activists:
>
> Lead Mine Rider
> Senator Bond from Missouri snuck in an amendment to
> the Senate
> version of the Interior Appropriations bill (SB
> 1292) which takes away the
> ability of the Secretary of Interior to protect the
> recharge area of Big
> Spring, including the nationally recognized wild &
> scenic Eleven Point and
> Current rivers, from Lead Mining. Lead Mining fills
> entire valleys with
> crushed waste rock slurry, which still contains
> hazardous levels of lead,
> cadmium and other heavy metals. Every watershed in
> this region looses water
> to the underground system of caves and springs,
> endangering drinking water
> as well as scenic treasures.
> Bond's amendment does not appear on the House
> version of this bill,
> and a conference committee must now decide its fate.
> Please join Missouri's
> environmental community, the state's attorney
> general and governor and
> encourage the committee members (especially those
> from your state -- see
> list below) to remove this amendment from the final
> version of the bill.
>
> Species Survey Rider
> Section 329 would allow the U.S. Forest Service and
> the
> Bureau of Land Management to bypass sensitive
> species survey
> requirements before making management decisions on
> timber sales. This
> rider has new urgency because of two recent court
> decisions that
> ordered the Forest Service to postpone 34 timber
> sales in the Pacific
> Northwest for failure to do these surveys. The
> temporary injunctions
> have virtually shut down logging on public lands in
> spotted owl habitat
> and the timber industry gave stopping this amendment
> top priority.
>
> Joint Senate/House Committee on the Interior
> Appropriations bill
>
> Senators:
> Gorton(r) WA phone 202-224-3441 fax 202-224-9393
> Byrd(D) WV 202-224-3954 202-228-0002
> Stevens(r) AK 202-224-3004 202-224-2354
> Leahy(D) VT 202-224-4242 no public fax
> Cochran(r) MS 202-224-5024 202-224-9450
> Hollings(D) SC 202-224-6121 202-224-4293
> Domenici(r) NM 202-224-6621 202-224-7371
> Reid(D) NV 202-224-3542 202-224-7327
> Burns(r) MT 202-224-2644 202-224-8594
> Dorgan(D) ND 202-224-2511 202-224-1193
> Bennett(r) UT 202-224-5444 no public fax
> Kohl(D) WI 202-224-5653 202-224-9787
> Gregg(r) NH 202-224-3324 202-224-4952
> Feinstein(D) CA 202-224-3841 202-228-3954
> Campbell(r) CO 202-224-5852 202-224-1933
>
> House Reps:
> Regula(r) OH phone202-225-3876 202-225-3059
> Dicks(D) WA 202-225-5916 202-226-1176
> Kolbe(r) AZ 202-225-2542 202-225-0378
> Murtha(D) PA 202-225-2065 202-225-5709
> Skeen(r) NM 202-225-2365 202-225-9599
> Moran(D) VA 202-225-4376 202-225-0017
> Taylor(r) NC 202-225-6401 no public fax
> Cramer(D) AL 202-225-4801 202-225-4392
> Nethercutt(r) WA 202-225-2006 202-225-3392
> Hinchey(D) NY 202-225-6335 202-226-0774
> Wamp(r) TN 202-225-3271 202-225-3494
> Kingston(r) GA 202-225-5831 202-226-2269
> Peterson(r) PA 202-225-5121 202-225-5796
>
> In addition, please call the White House
> Chief of Staff John Podesta (1-202-456-6798) and
> urge the President to
> take a strong stand against anti-environmental
> riders. Clinton must
> send a clear message to Congress and especially
> Senate conferees that
> he will veto this rider riddled appropriations bill!
> --------------------------------------
> 4. Demand Full Citizen Participation in Wisconsin
> FS Decisions
>
> Please email Supervisor Roberts (Lynn Roberts
> Lynn.Roberts/r9_cheni@fs.fed.us) of the
> Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest
> in Wisconsin and ask him NOT to authorize or allow
> staff to promote or
> expedite so-called "salvage" timber sales and/or to
> shorten normal
> environmental review and public input processes in
> connection with alleged
> 'damage' or 'fire hazards' caused by the July 4th
> and 30th storms.
>
> Of concerned is the ecologically myopic hyperbole
> reportedly used by some
> CNNF staff in characterizing the storms' effects as
> "catastrophic" and
> "devastating." This is ironic since the amount of
> downed trees is only
> about half of what the CNNF allows to be logged and
> removed from the
> forest on average each year.
>
> For more information, please contact Richard Spotts,
> Director Green Onion
> Resource Center 719 Orchard Lane Ashland, WI 54806
> <gorc@ncis.net>
>
>
-------------------------------------------------------------------
> 5. Oppose Forest Products Trade Liberalization
>
> For more info on the impacts of free trade on
> forests, see:
> http://www.earthjustice.org/work/intl_index.html
>
> Friends: Please add your name to this European
> statement opposing forest
> products trade liberalization at the WTO by
> e-mailing Saskia Ozinga at FERN
> <saskia@gn.apc.org> before September 30th.
> Thanks!
>
> NGO STATEMENT OF OPPOSITION TO THE PROPOSED
> LIBERALIZATION OF THE
> FOREST PRODUCTS SECTOR May 1999
>
> We, the undersigned non-governmental organizations
> representing citizens
> concerned about environment and development, oppose
> the proposal by the US
> and other members of APEC to create a 'free trade
> agreement' for forest
> products. We condemn the proposal because, if
> implemented, we fear it will
> lead to increased logging and consumption of
> ecologically and socially
> valuable forests around the globe. We also condemn
> the proposal because of
> the undemocratic and ecologically irresponsible
> manner in which it is being
> developed. We are deeply worried about the
> proposal's content: the
> intention is to eliminate tariffs on wood products.
> This could stimulate
> increased production and consumption. Another
> potential agenda item could
> be the elimination of non-tariff measures (NTMs)
> which may make it
> impossible to maintain environmental safeguards such
> as third-party
> certification and eco-labelling, strong
> phytosanitary controls on imports
> of wood products that carry exotic pests and
> pathogens, and regulations to
> promote local industries.
>
> We call on the members of the WTO to refrain from
> negotiating a forest
> products agreement until an independent assessment
> has been made of the
> social and environment impacts of trade
> liberalization on forests and
> forest people, and effective steps have been taken
> to mitigate those
> impacts on, and avoid future harm to, forest
> ecosystems and peoples. We
> call on the CSD to fulfil its commitment of
> developing a framework for
> assessing environmental and social impacts of trade
> policies and agreements
> by its next meeting in April 2000.
>
> We also condemn the forest products agreement for
> the economic paradigm
> that it perpetuates: the WTO and its members have
> ignored the potential
> adverse effects of trade liberalization on forest
> ecosystems and forest
> communities by failing to assess the environmental
> and social impacts of
> timber trade liberalization and on liberalization in
> other sectors that
> affect forests and forest peoples. The WTO and its
> members have also failed
> to adequately involve civil society in timber trade
> and other
> liberalization discussions. The proposal for a
> forest products agreement
> reflects an economic agenda which prioritizes trade
> liberalization as an
> end in itself rather than as a means which, in some
> circumstances, may be
> useful for improving environmental protection and
> quality of life. This
> agenda does not take into consideration the concerns
> of the people and
> communities who are ultimately affected. We the
> undersigned look forward
> to responses from our governments, the CSD and the
> WTO regarding our
> concerns over the proposed forest sector
> liberalization.
>
--------------------------------------------------------------------
> 6. Comment to USFWS to Protect Lynx
>
> The Predator Conservation Alliance needs your help
> to get comments to
> the US Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) on its report
> entitled "The
> Scientific Basis for Lynx Conservation."
>
> As many of you know, the Fish & Wildlife Service
> should have listed the
> Lynx under the US Endangered Species Act long ago
> and has used any
> excuse it could find to delay listing. The report
> has been yet another
> excuse for FWS delays.
>
> The report was release a while ago. However, it
> took the FWS more than
> six weeks to put the entire report on the Internet
> (while the comment
> period clock still ticked away). Now, the report is
> on line, but the
> comment period ends September 24, 1999 - next
> Friday!
>
> Please read the following alert by the Predator
> Conservation Alliance,
> read the report, and submit your comments.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Roger Featherstone
> GREEN Director
>
> WHAT TO DO
>
> Please submit your comments on the Science Report by
> mail or e-mail.
> They must be postmarked or e-mailed by September 24.
> The addresses
> are:
>
> Field Supervisor, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
> Montana Field Office
> 100 N. Park Avenue, Suite 320
> Helena, MT 59601
>
> e-mail: lynx@fws.gov
>
> You can read the entire report at:
> http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/lynx.html
>
> For more information, contact:
> David Gaillard, Coordinator
> Forest Predator Protection Program
> Predator Conservation Alliance
> Bozeman, Montana
> (406) 587-3389
> gaillard@wildrockies.org
>
> LYNX ACTIVIST ALERT
>
> Sixteen chapters of a scientific assessment of lynx
> in North America
> was released over the internet starting in August by
> the U.S. Forest
> Service. The report addresses all aspects of lynx
> biology,
> conservation and management. The report was
> co-authored by 18 American
> and Canadian lynx ecologists.
>
> The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) has delayed
> - more than once -
> listing the lynx for protection under the Endangered
> Species Act (ESA).
> The latest delay has been justified by pending
> release of this science
> report, entitled "The Scientific Basis for Lynx
> Conservation". This
> report offers no scientific reasoning NOT to list
> the lynx and if
> anything, it confirms what scientists and lynx
> advocates have been
> saying all along: protective measures should be
> implemented without
> further delay! USFWS will make its decision whether
> to list the lynx on
> January 8, 2000.
>
> This may be the last public comment period available
> for you to
> advocate protecting the lynx under ESA.
>
> Our challenge as activists is to support sound
> science over politics.
> Please take time to insist that lynx are provided
> ESA protections they
> need and deserve!
>
> Points for your comments.
>
> Refer to these excerpts from the report that
> highlight major issues
> jeopardizing lynx survival in the northern forests
> of the lower 48:
>
> * Lynx in the Contiguous U.S. are Imperiled.
> "We know remarkably little about the current status
> and numbers of
> lynx in the contiguous United States. However, what
> little we do know
> indicates the subpopulations are not large. . it is
> unwise to assume
> that these populations can be reduced or further
> isolated without
> sharply increasing the risk of their individual and
> collective
> extinction." (McKelvey et al., Chap 2, p.14)
>
> * ... Especially Lynx in Areas Isolated from Canada.
> . "the lynx in the northeastern United States are
> effectively
> isolated from the main Canadian populations...
> Similarly, boreal
> forests in Colorado and Utah are separated from the
> larger areas of
> boreal forest in Wyoming by at least 100 km. if they
> still contain
> native populations, these populations are
> particularly endangered."
> (McKelvey et al., Chap 2, p.13)
>
> Additional Factors in Lynx Population Declines:
>
> * Habitat Loss and Fragmentation
> "Fragmentation of habitats occupied by lynx
> (including increased
> openings, higher road densities, exurban residential
> development, and
> wider use of snowmobiles and devices that compact
> snow in areas with
> deep, soft snow) is a plausible mechanism for the
> questionable
> conservation status of the lynx in the contiguous
> United States."
> (Buskirk et al., Chap 4, p.13)
>
> * Forest Practices
> "We caution against uncritical application of
> ecological
> understandings derived from the North to southern
> lynx and we emphasize
> the potential importance of late-successional
> forests as habitat for
> hares, red squirrels, and lynx in the southern part
> of the range of the
> lynx." (Buskirk et al., Chap 14, p.1)
>
> .. "in areas subjected to large wildland fires, or
> where inholdings
> are managed for short-rotation timber yield using
> even-aged management,
> timber harvest (including salvage) may be
> inappropriate for decades...
> we would argue for a planned rate of disturbance
> somewhat less than the
> historically derived estimate. It is easy to
> increase the disturbance
> rate if desirable, but much harder to recover
> old-growth forests
> removed through overly aggressive management..."
> (McKelvey et al.,
> Chap. 10, pp. 11-12)
>
> * Roads
> "Roads into areas occupied by lynx may pose a threat
> to lynx from
> incidental harvest or poaching, increased access
> during winter for
> competing carnivores, especially coyotes,
> disturbance or mortality from
> vehicles, and loss of habitat." (Aubry et al.,
> Chap. 13, p.19)
>
> * Mortality Due to Trapping and Shooting
> "Although legal harvest is no longer a conservation
> concern, human-
> caused mortality is believed to be additive in the
> low-density lynx
> populations characteristic of southern boreal
> forests. If so, illegal
> or incidental harvest could significantly reduce
> population numbers of
> lynx in southern regions." (Aubry et al., Chap. 13,
> p.19)
>
> * Reliance on Canada's Lynx
> "We cannot assume that lynx populations in the
> contiguous United
> States will be maintained by dispersal of lynx from
> Canada, nor that
> connectivity with larger habitat areas in Canada
> will be maintained in
> perpetuity." (McKelvey et al., Chap. 15, p.9)
>
> * The Upshot
> "Our analysis of the current and historic
> distribution of lynx
> populations in the United States indicates that
> large, contiguous areas
> of suitable habitat are necessary for population
> persistence."
> (McKelvey et al., Chap. 15, p.8)
>
> "Our challenge, from the perspective of maintaining
> lynx and their prey
> in the context of ecosystem management, is to design
> management
> strategies that result in dynamic, sustainable
> landscapes that
> approximate the composition of natural systems."
> (McKelvey et al.,
> Chap. 15, p.10)
>
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> 7. Hoosier NF Planning Begun
>
> The U.S. Forest Service is beginning the process of
> revising the Land and
> Resource Management Plan ("Forest Plan") for the
> Hoosier National Forest.
> Please ask for a Plan with no logging or other
> commercial exploitation of
> the Forest. Also, please return the response form or
> write a letter asking
> to be included in the process, and tell the Forest
> Service what you feel is
> important to consider in drafting the next Plan.
>
> Supervisor Ken Day, Forest Planner Regis Terney USFS
> Hoosier National Forest
> 811 Constitution Ave.
> Bedford, IN 47421
> 812-275-5987
>
> The response form lists 5 potential topics and asks
> you to prioritize each
> topic and state why and how the new Plan needs to
> change to address each
> topic. The five topics are: the Role of the Hoosier
> National Forest,
> Watershed Health & Restoration, Timber
> Harvesting/vegetation management,
> Prescribed fire, and the Trail system. There is also
> space for "other"
> topics you can write in.
>
> State that the role of the Hoosier National Forest
> should be to preserve
> forest ecosystems and the organisms that depend on
> them, and to provide
> low-impact wilderness recreation opportunities.
>
> State that watershed health & restoration is a
> high-priority topic, that we
> should eliminate soil disturbing activities from the
> Hoosier and
> decommission unneeded roads.
>
> State that timber harvesting/vegetation management
> is a high-priority
> topic. The next Plan should not allow any commercial
> exploitation of the
> forest for private gain i.e. no logging, mining,
> etc. Also, the forest
> openings program should be dropped from the new
> Plan.
>
> Prescribed fire should only be used when the Forest
> Service can demonstrate
> there is a clear ecological need. The FS should
> follow NEPA procedures
> involve the public and prepare site-specific
> Environmental Assessments or
> Environmental Impact Statements for any proposed
> burning projects. These
> documents should clearly state what organisms at
> what sites are expected to
> benefit from the treatments.
>
> No new trails are needed on the Hoosier. Emphasis
> should be placed on
> enforcing rules concerning off-road vehicles and
> horses. Under the current
> Plan, off-road vehicles are not allowed in the
> Forest. Horseback riders are
> only to use trails designated for horses.
>
> Other topics you may want to mention include land
> acquisition (purchase
> land from willing sellers, but no land exchanges)
> and special use permits
> (no more special use permits for utilities or
> logging projects on adjacent
> land).
>
> Include your name and address. Thanks for
> participating in the forest
> planning process!
>
> Talking points by Donald (dwinslow@indiana.edu)
>
> Devin M. Scherubel
> Network Support Coordinator, Heartwood
> PO Box 7653, Columbia, MO 65205
> (573) 449-3537
> (573) 999-5790(cell phone)
> devin@heartwood.org
> http://www.heartwood.org
>
>
>
>
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