PRESS RELEASE
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For Immediate Release
December 17, 2008
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Contact:
Randi Spivak, American Lands Alliance, 202-547-9029
Sherman Bamford, Virginia Forest Watch, 540-343-6359
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Conservation Groups Call on the
Agriculture Sec. Nominee to Set New Direction for Forest Service;
Reverse Bush’s Damaging Legacy in the
First 100 Days
President-elect Obama announced today the nomination of former
Governor of Iowa, Tom Vilsack as the new Secretary of
Agriculture.
Nearly 100 conservation organizations representing over 1.5
million members and citizens from around the country call on
Vilsack to reverse damaging policies promulgated by the Bush
administration and set a new course for the U.S. Forest Service.
“Most people don’t know that 193 million acres of
National Forest System lands are overseen by the Department of
Agriculture," said Randi Spivak, executive director of
American Lands Alliance. “Forest ecosystems are very
different from agriculture crops. These forests are our natural
capital that provide clean water, filter the air we breathe,
provide habitat for wildlife and fish, flood protection,
sequester tremendous amounts of carbon and offer world-class
recreation opportunities."
“The George Washington and Jefferson National Forests in
Virginia are home to some of the largest blocks of forest habitat
in the Appalachians,” said Sherman Bamford, Public Lands
Coordinator for Virginia Forest Watch. “Unfortunately, over
the last 8 years of the Bush Administration, we have seen
protections weakened, affecting real places like Laurel Run, a
timber sale area near important streamside habitat on the Lee
Ranger District; Back Valley, a timber sale only a few miles from
the globally significant Clinch River on the Clinch Ranger
District; and Toms Branch, the site of a approved timber sale
within the roadless Toms Knob area on the James River Ranger
District. We are hopeful that Tom Vilsack and Barack Obama will
follow our recommendations and take conservation of our public
lands seriously – and that a renewed sense of positive
action and integrity will percolate to all levels of the Forest
Service.”
The Forest
Conservation Community National Forest Priorities for the New
Administration recommends a set of high-priority national
forest conservation issues for early action beginning in the
first 100 days and lays out a vision for shifting the priority of
federal land management agencies to managing public lands for
ecological sustainability and developing green jobs to restore
our public forests and watersheds.
“National Forest System lands and the Forest Service often
operate under conflicting policy mandates with timber, mining,
oil and gas development, motorized recreation, and grazing
allowed to harm natural resources at the expense of both the
environment and the taxpayers,” continued Spivak.
“We hope to see a new direction and vision for the agency,”
said Spivak. “We look to the new administration to set a
high bar for protecting and restoring our nation's forests and
protecting wildlife. Our national forests should be managed for
biodiversity, clean water and air, carbon sequestration, and
appropriate recreation.”
“The hallmark of the Bush administration has been political
interference in science to pave the way for extractive uses on
public lands that puts numerous species at risk and cuts the
public out of the decision-making process on federal forests at
the planning, project, and accountability levels”
“The nation cannot begin to implement proactive policies to
protect and restore public lands without first reversing the Bush
administration’s damaging environmental legacy,” Spivak
added. “Those actions and regulations dramatically reduced
existing protections for federal forests, watersheds and
wildlife, public participation, and scientific integrity.”
The forest conservation community’s top three
recommendations include:
· Development of a comprehensive climate policy for
forests that shifts the management focus to ecological
sustainability and prohibits logging of large, mature,
and old-growth forests and trees on federal lands.
· Reinstating strong ecosystem protections that
reinstate the requirement that federal forest plans
maintain viable populations of species and allow the
public involvement, scrutiny, and scientific
accountability.
· Restoring protections for America's roadless wild
forests including on the Tongass National Forest.
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These requests for early action fall mainly under the
jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service, an agency of the
Department of Agriculture.
Click
here to read the Forest Conservation Community National
Forest Priorities for the New Administration.
Priorities of special concern to Virginia Forest Watch’s
members and conservationists thoughout the commonwealth of
Virginia are:
1.) Replace the 2008 Forest Planning regulations
which eliminate the requirement to maintain viable
populations of species, reduce agency accountability, and
substantially weaken opportunities for public
involvement, and reinstate the 1982 Planning Regulations.
(Item #3 in the “Forest Conservation Community
National Forest Priorities” document). Previous Bush
administration Planning Regulations (2005) were found to
be illegal in a court of law and the current Planning
Regulations are similar to the previous ones. Despite
this, the Forest Service is proceeding with the 15-year
Plan Revision for the George Washington National Forest
under these flawed rules.
2.) Fully protect inventoried roadless areas
consistent with the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
(Item #2 in the “Forest Conservation Community
National Forest Priorities” document). Virginia has
more acres of national forest roadless areas than any
other state east of the Mississippi River. Governor Kaine
recently wrote the Forest Service, asking that all
roadless areas identified in the 2001 Rule be protected,
in addition to approximately 100,000 more acres of
roadless areas identified by the Forest Service this
year. Kaine said, “As we look to the future, we can
see continued development pressure on natural and rural
lands in the Commonwealth. Securing a significant portion
of the national forest land base in its natural state by
protecting roadless areas is a necessary element in
providing long-term protection for clean water,
backcountry recreation, and habitat for wildlife.”
3.) Protect large, mature, and old-growth forests and
trees on federal lands; Old-growth forests contribute
significantly to carbon sequestration and storage.
(Item #1 in the “Forest Conservation Community
National Forest Priorities” document). Although many
people are not aware of it, the Forest Service logs
old-growth forests in Virginia. Virginia Forest Watch and
four other groups published a report on old-growth
logging that took place in the Hoover Creek area in
Alleghany County in 2005. The report also highlights
other concerns about the lack of safeguards for
old-growth forests in general. The report can be accessed
on-line at http://www.virginiaforestwatch.org/docs/OldGrowthWhitePaper2ded.pdf
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