[az-leader] Please Write Today!!!
- From: janice miano miano <jmiano@xxxxxxxx>
- To: az-leader@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2002 15:33:25 -0700
Please Write Today!
Thank you to all of you for your support of the Sierra Club and for
working
to protect Arizona's environment. There is still a lot of misinformation
out there about environmentalists and the fires and we sure could use
your
help to get out the word and to correct the record. Please take a moment
now to write a letter to the editor regarding the fires. Here are a few
points you might want to make:
Governor Jane Hull's and Senator Jon Kyl's comments regarding
environmentalists and these Arizona fires are political rhetoric and are
not
based on factual information. Conservationists, including the Sierra
Club,
have urged saving the large fire resistant old growth trees and the next
generation of old growth (16 inches and larger) and have encouraged the
Forest Service to focus on thinning the forest of underbrush and small
diameter trees that have proliferated since fire suppression. The Sierra
Club has also supported prescribed burning to remove the underbrush,
under
the right weather conditions with adequate moisture and low winds.
Here are a few facts that you might consider including in your letter.
· A century of managing our national forests for large-scale logging has
left a more fire prone forest today. The Sierra Club has urged the
Forest
Service to stop subsidizing logging, and to instead invest in fire
prevention through thinning the forests near communities, where these
activities will do the most good.
· While fire is a natural part of the forest and has a role to play in
healthy forests, the severity of this summer's fires has been augmented
by
decades of suppressing fires too effectively -- dead wood, underbrush and
smaller trees have not been cleaned out periodically by smaller fires as
would happen under more natural conditions.
· The extreme drought conditions are clearly a major factor in the fires
-
there has been about one fourth the normal rain and snow in most of these
areas over the last year. The lack of moisture in the forest combined
with
some high winds early on contributed to the intensity of these fires.
· Our forests in the southwest have had a 100 years of logging, decades
of
fire suppression, and about 15 years of environmental activism
challenging
the logging of old growth trees and the larger trees that will be the
next
generation of old growth. In those 15 years of public involvement many
timber sales have been modified to save a higher percentage of old growth
trees, but very few timber sales in Arizona have been stopped entirely.
· According to the Pacific Biodiversity Institute, most of the land
burned
by the Rodeo-Chediski fires (60%) is on tribal land, only 37% is in
National
Forests and 3% is on private and state land. Much of the burned area is
on
land that has experienced extensive logging and road building over the
last
50 years.
· Until the National Fire Plan received significant funding, most Forest
Service thinning and control burn projects were funded by continuing to
log
rare old growth stands and large diameter trees. Ninety-five percent of
our
historic old growth forests in the southwest have been logged. We can
and
should find a way to thin small diameter trees and reintroduce fire
without
sacrificing the last five percent and the larger diameter trees that will
become the next generation of old growth.
· The Forest Service states 40% of "direct work" at the national forest
level is spent on planning and assessment. This is equal to $250
million,
or 20% of their annual congressional appropriation and it does not
include
the National Fire Plan money. According to a General Accounting Office
report "Forest Service Decision Making: a framework for improving
performance" (GAO/RCED-97-71), of this $250 million, $100 million a year
is
lost to inefficiencies.
· We should all work together to promote healthy forest management and
encourage the Forest Service to invest in fire prevention through
thinning
the forests near communities, where these activities will do the most
good.
With scarce dollars and millions of acres of smaller dense trees, the top
priority should be to focus on thinning forests closest to communities
(within ½ mile of structures, according to the experts) and on homeowners
clearing away brush and wood from next to their houses and freeing their
roofs of twigs and needles.
Please take a moment to write and let your voice be heard. Don't forget
to
keep your letters brief (200 words or less is best) and be sure to
include
your name, address and a daytime phone number. Thank you!
Here are some papers to which you might want to write a letter:
The Arizona Republic
opinions@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
PO Box 2244
Phoenix, AZ 85002
Fax (602) 444-8933
Arizona Daily Star
Letters@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
PO Box 26807
Tucson, AZ 85726-6807
Fax (520) 573-4141
Tucson Citizen
letters@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Phone: (520) 573-4561
P.O. Box 26767
Tucson, AZ 85726-6767
FAX: (520) 573-4569
The Arizona Daily Sun
azdsopinion@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Letters to the editor
Arizona Daily Sun
P.O. Box 1849
Flagstaff, AZ 86002
Fax (928) 774-4790
Sandy Bahr
Conservation Outreach Director
Sierra Club - Grand Canyon Chapter
202 E. McDowell Rd, Suite 277
Phoenix, AZ 85004
Phone (602) 253-8633 Fax (602) 258-6533
grand.canyon.chapter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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