COEJL ACTION ALERT:

Help Protect All Remaining Roadless Areas in National Forests (11/18/99)

Dear COEJL Activists and other Jewish environmentalists:

On October 13, I was fortunate to witness President Clinton's instructing the U.S. Forest Service to conduct an Environmental Impact Statement concerning the preservation of roadless areas in National Forests. Already, over 377,810 miles of roads -- enough to circle the Earth 15 times - crisscross the U.S. national forests.

This initiative is an historic opportunity to protect as many as 60 million of the 192 million acres in the national forest system from logging and other commercial development. With sufficient public pressure from conservationists, this policy will be one of the most significant environmental accomplishments in recent U.S. history.

Your help is needed to ensure that this announcement results in a strict policy to protect all roadless areas in national forests.

From now through December 20, the Forest Service is asking the public to comment on whether or not to protect these roadless wildlands. One particularly important issue is whether the proposal will include ALL national forests, including Alaska's Tongass National Forest (our nation's largest national forest), home to one of the last old-growth temperate rainforests.

I hope you will choose to take action in response to this tremendous opportunity to protect our forests.

B'shalom,
Mark X. Jacobs, COEJL Director

BACKGROUND

Our Jewish heritage calls on us to serve as protectors and defenders of God's magnificent creations. In a brief moment in the life of our planet, we have destroyed all but a remnant of the ancient forests. It is our duty-as people of faith, and citizens of our nation, our world, and our biosphere-to safeguard and weave together this patchwork of remnants as best we can as our legacy for generations to come.

In order to fulfill this obligation, COEJL believes that the federal government should establish a system of interconnected, strictly protected biological preserves on land, in fresh water, and in the sea.

COEJL believes that public lands should be managed to preserve and restore biological diversity, and that government should not subsidize logging, mining, or grazing on public lands. Furthermore, we believe such activities should be immediately suspended in all old-growth forests and other threatened habitats on public lands. The protection of roadless areas is a necessary step in achieving these objectives.

The extent of the policy's protection and whether the Tongass* is included depend on the amount of public support that the Forest Service receives during this comment period. The timber industry and its allies in Congress are fighting hard to undermine the President's proposal. Please take action and spread the word!

* The Tongass National Forest, the heart of the last great expanse of old-growth rainforest in the United States, was exempted from the 18-month road building moratorium now in effect.

ACTION NEEDED:

Please send an official comment to the Forest Service saying that you want to stop logging and other harmful activities in all our national forest wildlands, including the Tongass National Forest.

COEJL STRONGLY encourages you to make edits directly to the sample letter below. Put both the rationale and the policy points into your own words. An individualized letter is best, but please reply even if you don't have time to personalize the letter.

1. CUT AND PASTE THE LETTER BELOW INTO A SEPARATE DOCUMENT
2. EDIT THE LETTER SO THAT IT IS IN YOUR OWN WORDS
3. PRINT IT OUT ON PLAIN PAPER OR YOUR LETTERHEAD
4. SEND TO THE ADDRESS ON THE LETTER OR

FAX TO (801) 517-1021.

TO E-MAIL (email ONLY if you do not have enough time to fax, as emails are not weighted as much as printed letters): roadless/wo_caet-slc@fs.fed.us.

Thank you. Please email a copy of your letter to COEJLinDC@coejl.org. Also, see below for information about public hearings on this issue.

Join COEJLAction: the Jewish environmental advocacy network to receive COEJL Action Alerts automatically via email.

For more information, contact Ari Gilbert, COEJL's Washington DC Legislative Assistant at COEJLinDC@coejl.org or (202)-387-2800 ext. 29.

PUBLIC MEETINGS SCHEDULED FOR ROADLESS INITIATIVE

The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is sponsoring a series of meetings to solicit public comment on the President's initiative to protect roadless areas.

The USFS has scheduled 10 national meetings, as well as local meetings in every national forest with a roadless area. Please attend these meetings and voice the Jewish community's support for protecting our forests.

Following is a list of national meeting dates and locations. All times are local.

November 18: Embassy Suites Downtown Denver, Denver, Colorado, 6:00 - 9:00 pm;
November 18: Centennial Hall Convention Center, Juneau, Alaska, 5:00 - 8:00 pm
November 30: Oregon Convention Center, Portland, Oregon, 5:00 - 8:00 pm;
November 30: Georgia International Convention Center, Atlanta, Georgia, 6:30 - 9:30 pm
December 1: Capitol Hills Plaza, Sacramento, California, 6:00 - 9:00 pm
December 9: Hyatt Arlington, Washington, DC, 6:30 - 10:00 pm