Oppose Backdoor Logging Proposal 2002-09-06, 6:05 p.m. This summer's record-setting fire season has taken a heavy toll: nearly 6 million acres burned, 20 lives of firefighters lost, and $1.5 billion spent battling the blazes. And fires are still raging across forests in the West. Decades of fire suppression and dry weather have turned forests into tinderboxes and one spark from lightning or a careless camper can ignite an inferno in minutes. While most agree that current fire management strategies are not working, there are very different proposals for controlling outbreaks. The Bush administration is using the present, devastating fire season to advance one proposal that promotes commercial logging under the guise of fire prevention. Under Bush's plan ''stewardship contracts'' would be created that allow logging companies to cut down commercially viable trees in exchange for removing the brush and saplings that exacerbate fire risk. Sound like a good deal? Not if there are no protections against timber companies harvesting as much as they like, or against harvesting in remote areas that provide critical habitat for endangered and threatened species, as well as recreational opportunities. However, the worst part of the Bush plan is that it would suspend or restrict important environmental statutes that require review of logging projects and allow for legal appeals, robbing the public of a traditional safeguard against the excesses of the timber industry. When the Senate returns from the Labor Day recess, Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) will offer Bush's plan as an amendment to the Interior appropriations bill. The Senate should vote the amendment down and focus instead on proposals that would reduce the risk of fire in our forests without risking the forests themselves. - Call to action - The Bush administration is using the present, devastating fire season to advance a proposal that would promote commercial logging under the guise of fire prevention. Urge the Senate to oppose the plan and focus instead on proposals that would reduce the risk of fire in our forests without risking the forests themselves. Contact Them Now! previous entries: Anyone? - 2008-01-24 Saturday Film Series at The Free Speech Zone - 2005-12-30 SLC? - 2005-12-21 Please Post - 2005-07-24 From ImpeachBush.org - 2005-06-20 New: Fill out the survey!

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