Sierra Club’s Bluestem Action Alert for January, 2003

River Prairie Group

Please call Senators Durbin and Fitzgerald and urge them to vote for Senator Barbara Boxer’s amendment to the appropriations bill in support of the Tongass National Forest .

Senator Boxer’s amendment would strike out the Tongass Anti-Wilderness language from a rider buried deep in the sweeping appropriations bill. The rider, which was offered by Senator Ted Stevens, would prohibit any further public appeal or judicial review of the U.S. Forest Service’s plan for commercial logging in the Tongass. 

The Tongass National Forest stretches for 500 miles along Alaska’s southeastern coast. This area is the largest US national forest. It includes prime habitat for grizzly bears, salmon spawning grounds and a thriving population of bald eagles. The area includes temperate rainforest and giant conifers. Much of the forest has already fallen to clear cutting and the remainder is threatened further by logging proponents in the Bush administration. We must save the remaining forest .

The rider deep within the appropriations bill says that the Environmental Impact Statement for the 1997 Tongass Land Management Plan shall not be reviewed under an administrative appeal process and shall not be subject to judicial review by any court of the United States. The Forest Service has recommended no new wilderness areas, and this rider eliminates the public’s right to appeal that decision. Americans have shown overwhelming support and concern for wilderness and we must preserve our right to challenge the Forest Service’s management plan. The comments on the Tongass Wilderness review represent one of the largest outpourings of public response to any National Forest. We must preserve our right to have a voice! 

Please call Senators Durbin and Fitzgerald and urge them to vote for Senator Boxer’s amendment to protect the Tongass. Senator Durbin’s phone number in Chicago is 312-353-4952, and Senator Fitzgerald’s number is 312-886-3506. You can also call both senators by calling the capitol switchboard in Washington D.C. at 202-224-3121 and asking for them by name.