NEW REPORT IDENTIFIES NATIONAL FORESTS AT GREATEST RISK FROM BUSH ADMINISTRATION PRO-LOGGING POLICIES

Dr. E.O. Wilson, Greenpeace and the National Forest Protection Alliance Warn of "Endangered Forests, Endangered Freedoms"

WASHINGTON - A nationwide coalition of environmental groups released a new report today that identifies the national forests at greatest risk from logging and documents the Bush Administration's attempts to eliminate public oversight of environmental laws. Greenpeace and the National Forest Protection Alliance (NFPA) released Endangered Forests, Endangered Freedoms in response to the Administration's unprecedented attacks on America's national forests. Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Dr. E.O. Wilson of Harvard University joined the groups to call for an end to logging in these national treasures.

"Scientists have reached a deeper understanding of the value of the National Forest System that needs to be kept front and center," said Dr. Wilson. "National forests represent a public trust too valuable to be managed as tree farms for the production of pulp, paper and lumber. The time has come to free national forests from political partisanship, and to use their treasures to benefit all Americans."

Forests were selected based on several criteria, including water quality, road construction, the presence of endangered and threatened species, timber sale volume and economics, and the percentage of remaining old-growth and roadless areas. Chosen as the 10 most endangered forests were Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest (Ariz.), Bitterroot National Forest (Mont.), Black Hills National Forest (S.D.), Chequemegan-Nicolet National Forest (Wis.), George Washington-Jefferson National Forest (Va.), Kootenai National Forest (Mont.), Mississippi's National Forests (Miss.), Plumas National Forest (Calif.), Tongass National Forest (Alaska), and Umpqua National Forest (Ore.)

"Endangered Forests, Endangered Freedoms provides the American public with a detailed and scientific account of the current ecological state of the National Forest system," said Jake Kreilick, Project Coordinator of NFPA. "By citing direct evidence of environmental damage in 10 particularly endangered forests, it paints a grim picture of the Bush Administration's mismanagement of our precious public lands."

The report lists specific actions taken by the Bush Administration to achieve its pro-logging agenda, namely:

• limiting the public's right to participate in decisions affecting their public lands
  
  
• using stealthy administrative rule changes to undermine fundamental environmental laws, such as the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Forest Management Act
  
  
• using the threat of wildfires to give timbers companies access to remote intact forests for logging
  
  
• dismantling rules that protect forests from roadbuilding and commercial development
  
  
• turning over large tracts of National Forest land to logging companies under the guise of "Stewardship Contracting."

"This fight is not just about saving trees," said John Passacantando, Executive Director of Greenpeace. "We are fighting for the principle that some places in this country are so special that they belong to all Americans. And we are fighting for the right of the people to have a say in the future of those places."

The report also gave special mention to Allegheny National Forest (Pa.), the Medford Bureau of Land Management District (Ore.) and Sequoia National Forest (Calif.). Nine other forests were listed as "threatened:" Cherokee National Forest (Tenn.), Clearwater National Forest (Idaho), Idaho Panhandle National Forest (Idaho), Kaibab National Forest (Ariz.), Mount Hood National Forest (Ore.), Monongahela National Forest (W.Va), Ottawa National Forest (Mich.), Ouachita National Forest (Ark./Okla.) and Sumter National Forest (S.C.).

Speakers at the press conference highlighted an alternative to Bush's logging plans, the National Forest Protection and Restoration Act (H.R. 2169), which would end the costly practice of taxpayer-subsidized logging in national forests while providing true relief to areas threatened by wildfire. Rep. Leach, a longtime advocate for protecting the nation's natural heritage, is the primary sponsor of the bill, which has gained the bipartisan support of 90 co-sponsors so far.

Rep. Leach said, "These are the nations' forests, enjoyed by, but also entrusted to, all of us. Common sense dictates that fragile federal land should be appropriately protected by federal laws, but this report argues that we are moving in the opposite direction. If we are to redeem the future of our public lands, we must protect what remains of our national forests."

The National Forest Protection Alliance, which includes Greenpeace, is a coalition of 120 grassroots conservation groups from all over the U.S. committed to ending the commercial exploitation of federal public lands, beginning with the federal timber sale program. The report's release coincides with National Forest Protection Lobby Week, in which activists from all over the country have come to Washington, D.C. to pressure Congress to protect and restore our national forests. In late June, NFPA and Greenpeace will be holding an "action camp" in Montana, a week-long training on nonviolent tactics and methods of protecting America's endangered forests.

CONTACT: Nancy Hwa, Greenpeace Media Officer, 202-319-2432 (office), 202-413-8521 (cell)
Andrew George, NFPA, 828-280-6956 (cell); 919-933-2959 (office)

Click here for a copy of the report