Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Forest Plan Protest: Monday August 11, 8 AM, at the Base of Mt. Lemmon Highway On Monday, August 11 the eyes of the Nation will be on Tucson as President George W. Bush arrives to tour the Aspen fire, visit Summerhaven, and promote his deceptively titled "Healthy Forests Initiative." Join us: Monday, August 11, at 8 AM (sorry for the early time) At the base of the Mount Lemmon highway Bring a sign, a hat, and a cool drink (Signs, Breakfast and Coffee available) Busses and carpooling to the rally leave at 7 am sharp from the parking lot of First Christian Church, located on the corner of Speedway and Euclid. For more details call Brian Segee in Tucson at 623-5252 x308 or email bsegee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx or Sandy Bahr in Phoenix at (602) 253-8633 or email grand.canyon.chapter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx If you cannot join the rally, see below for action you can take. It is deeply ironic that the President is choosing the Aspen fire and the Summerhaven tragedy as the political backdrop for his so-called "Healthy Forests" plan. While the administration presents the plan as the solution to increasingly large wildfire seasons, in reality Bush is callously moving to dismantle over 30 years of environmental protections while simultaneously refusing to provide adequate funding for the critical work of reducing flammable hazardous fuels around forest communities. Nowhere have the misguided priorities of the "Healthy Forests Initiative" been more starkly illustrated than with the Aspen fire. Forest Service officials, fire ecologists, community residents and conservation organizations have long agreed that immediate action was necessary to protect Summerhaven and other developed areas on the mountain through the use of brush clearing, prescribed burning and small-diameter thinning of trees on Forest Service and privately owned-land. Unfortunately, these efforts were never completed due to lack of adequate funding. The Senate is expected to vote on wildfire legislation, based on the Bush Administration's "Healthy Forests Legislation," in September, so if you cannot attend on Monday, please make a call or write a letter (see details below). Thank you! S1904, based on the Bush forest plan, eliminates environmental analysis, public comment and administrative appeals on millions of acres of public forest lands. It also essentially suspends the National Environmental Policy Act, the fundamental law ensuring that federal agencies consider environmental impacts, consider alternatives, and involve the public in public land management decisions. If you cannot attend on Monday, but would like to help stop the Bush Administration's misguided policies, please call Senator McCain and ask him to oppose S1904. Please contact Senator McCain at (202) 224-2235, or in Phoenix at (602) 952- 2410 and in Tucson at (520) 670-6334. You can also email him at John_McCain@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Letters to the Senator should go to: Senator John McCain 241 Russell Senate Office Building United States Senate Washington, D.C. 20510 Sandy Bahr, Conservation Outreach Director Sierra Club - Grand Canyon Chapter 202 E. McDowell Rd, Suite 277 Phoenix, AZ 85004 (602) 253-8633 fax (602) 258-6533 grand.canyon.chapter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Tony Novelli, Assistant Director Development Center for Appropriate Technology P.O. Box 27513 Tucson, Arizona 85726-7513 USA (520) 624-6628 (520) 798-3701 Fax http://www.dcat.net";>http://www.dcat.net MULTI-ISSUE PROTEST Monday, August 11, 2003 4:30 ? 6:30 PM Republican Headquarters? 5th St., just WEST of Craycroft Rd. Bring friends, family & signs!! For more info? contact Jonna @ 319-8220 or Jonna@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx OPERATION REGIME CHANGE ?04 WE WANT YOU! Join other concerned people as we protest GEORGE W. BUSH and his visit to Tucson. Lets show him he and his policies aren?t welcome here or in the White House! Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva Comments on Forests Tucson, AZ - With President Bush coming to Tucson, Arizona on Monday to address the forest fire issue, Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva releases the following statement: "It is deeply ironic that President Bush is choosing Summerhaven, Arizona as the site to highlight his so-called "Healthy" Forests Initiative. "Summerhaven was one of 120 communities in Arizona classified as at high-risk from catastrophic wildfire. Several weeks ago, more than 80% of the homes and businesses burned to the ground in Summerhaven as a result of the Aspen Fire. "Earlier this year, in response to a fire that came close to the village last summer, the Forest Service and local residents requested $1 million to fund fuels reduction projects around the village and other structures. The Republican-controlled Congress and Administration did not appropriate the funds for this critically important work. "President Bush's Healthy Forests Initiative was designed by former timber industry lobbyists within his Administration. It will facilitate logging of large, old growth trees deep in the forest under the guise of forest health. The initiative will also eliminate the ability of citizens to be involved in planning for fuels reduction projects in their communities or areas that they recreate in or otherwise enjoy. "What was needed in Summerhaven was more funding for fuels reduction treatments in and around the village, not logging deep in the forest. Curtailing the ability of citizens and environmental groups to appeal and litigate projects is irrelevant and useless in this case, where there was widespread support for projects. No appeals or litigation were filed on any project on the entire mountain range where Summerhaven sits. The projects simply languished from lack of funding. "We must approach this problem from a new perspective. We must provide comprehensive funding for communities to protect themselves in the face of a real and immediate threat to their lives, homes and livelihoods. We should foster public/private partnerships that would employ community residents and put them to work thinning and clearing around homes and structures. Let's provide funding for fuels reduction projects around our at-risk communities and let's do it now before another Summerhaven-like disaster occurs." ### <http://www.house.gov/grijalva> Tucson Citizen, Friday, August 8, 2003 Guest Opinion: President's Plan Only Aids Loggers RAÚL M. GRIJALVA <mailto:letters@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On July 30 I had the opportunity to visit Mount Lemmon and Summerhaven with John McGee, supervisor of the Coronado National Forest. I ant to commend the Forest Service, Pima County and all other parties for their outstanding efforts to save the structures on the mountain. Given the limited resources that were available to prevent such an event at the outset, the officials and volunteers did a truly remarkable job. What I saw on the mountain last week solidified my belief that we must take action to fully protect our forest communities from the inevitable event of fire, and we must do so now. In Arizona, we now have 120 communities nestled in the forest that are at "high-risk" for a catastrophic fire event. Summerhaven was on the list, but the village is now in part destroyed. We now have 119 potential Summerhavens out there, and it is a question of when, not if, fires similar to the Aspen fire will impact these communities. On my trip with Mr. McGee, we discussed how to make communities safer. Mr. McGee stated, and I agree, that there is no 100 percent guaranteed way to protect forest communities - not even if you pave a three-mile-wide swath around them. However, there are a number of proven ways to greatly enhance the chances that lives and property will survive a forest fire. Scientists and fire ecologists have determined that thinning of small trees and removal of brush from the immediate vicinity of communities and controlled burning in a wider circle around the thinned areas can go a very long way in protecting communities. Residents can also protect their homes and those of their neighbors by installing metal roofs, burying propane tanks and clearing their property of brush and small trees. If this kind of work is done, is it likely that fire will burn gently along the forest floor, making it far easier for fire fighters to protect an area. John McGee showed me where thinning was done around the camps at Organization Ridge on Mount Lemmon. Firefighters had a much easier time controlling the fire that approached this area because the thinning slowed and lowered the intensity of the approaching fire. After the Bullock fire on Mount Lemmon last summer, the Forest Service and residents requested $1 million so that they could complete similar clearing work around the village and other structures. However, the Republican-controlled Congress and the Bush administration did not appropriate the necessary funds for this work. George W. Bush will be here on Monday to extol the virtues of his so-called "Healthy Forests Initiative." But don't be fooled by his rhetoric. His initiative would have done nothing to prevent the destruction of homes in Summerhaven or the Aspen fire itself. Bush's initiative was designed by former timber industry lobbyists within his administration. It will facilitate logging of large, old-growth trees deep in the forest, under the guise of forest health. The initiative will also eliminate the ability of citizens to be involved in planning for fuels reduction projects in their communities or areas that they recreate in or otherwise enjoy. Several months ago, Democrats in Congress proposed an alternative that would have focused on community protection while still maintaining citizen involvement in decision-making. But we lost our fight to win support from Republicans on this compromise legislation. Instead, a bill very similar to Bush's initiative passed the House and is now before the Senate. I am adamantly opposed to the Bush initiative and its companion legislation. Instead, I am proposing the following five-point plan to address safety in forest communities: We must provide for immediate and comprehensive funding for fire safety measures to protect communities before fires sweep through them. Our efforts must focus on the places where people live and work, not on the forest at large. We must create opportunities for communities to work to protect themselves. We should foster public/private partnerships and micro business creation that would employ community residents and put people to work thinning and clearing around homes and structures. We must include citizens in the forest planning process. We must undertake a comprehensive and independent study of the Aspen fire immediately so that we may determine which fire safety measures worked on Mount Lemmon, which did not, and exactly how much funding would have been necessary to fully protect the community. We must allow natural fires that do not threaten communities to burn. As a natural and necessary occurrence, fires can assist in clearing out the forest of flammable materials and making the forests healthier overall. Keep in mind that Bush's initiative is about lining the pockets of the timber industry, not about protecting communities. Instead, let's focus on community protection and start getting the job done before another Summerhaven-like disaster happens. Raúl M. Grijalva is a Democratic member of the U.S. House of representatives representing Arizona's Seventh District. Acasia Berry Sky Island Alliance Box 41165 Tucson, AZ 85717 520/624-7080 ext. 207 acasia@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx www.skyislandalliance.org ****************************** -- Binary/unsupported file stripped by Ecartis -- -- Type: application/msword -- File: ProtestBush.11Aug03.doc You are subscribed to AZ-LEADER. To post to this mailing list, simply send email to az-leader@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe, send email to az-leader-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.