[az-leader] Two Bush Protests Monday August 11. Forest Plan Protest 8 AM at Mt. Lemmon Highway. Multi-Issue Protest 4:30 PM Republican Headquarters

  • From: "Diana Hadley" <hadleyd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <hadleyd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2003 18:34:58 -0700

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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

******************************



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  • » [az-leader] Two Bush Protests Monday August 11. Forest Plan Protest 8 AM at Mt. Lemmon Highway. Multi-Issue Protest 4:30 PM Republican Headquarters