STOP The Salvage rider from HELL!!
The "Emergency Salvage Timber Program," adopted by Congress on
July 26th, 1995, has a birthday coming up.  It purports to protect forests 
from those pesky natural conditions, like fire, wind, and insects.  It calls 
for an immediate "get the cut out before it burns or gets bitten by an ant."  
Fires (not fire suppression) are a necessary part of the forest ecosystem, 
insects live in trees, and downed logs retain the moisture necessary to 
nurture new growth in the forest.  Old growth forests are the ecosystems the 
most UNSUSCEPTIBLE to fires.  After all, they are at least a hundred years 
old and some as old as a few thousand years.  If you listen to the Forestry 
industry hype, you'd believe that old growth is a fire hazard and is sick by 
virtue of it's age.  In fact, the forestry industry is lying through their 
teeth with a straight face.  A massive TV, radio, and print campaign has been 
carefully structured to placate the public's concern about forest protection. 
 The timber corporations have come up with a "forestry health" crisis, and 
have succeeded in opening virtually any forest land previously protected 
(endangered species habitat, wildlife corridors, some roadless areas, etc..) 
to logging without laws.  They did this by capitalizing on recent fires, 
claiming they are killing the forests along with bugs.  The only emergency 
here is fire suppression, which allows dried brush to grow uncontrolled, 
providing fuel for fires to burn faster and hotter than they would if natural 
fire cycles were allowed.  But the timber industry has a solution to this 
"crisis," more suppression.  They argue that dead trees and decaying wood 
cause our forests to go up in flames, and that we should replace Smokey the 
Bear with a chainsaw.  They argue that dense stands of trees provide fuel for 
fires, so thinning is needed.  They claim oldİgrowth forests are unhealthy 
and use up oxygen instead of providing it.
The bare bones truth is that their method of "management" will only cause 
more of our forests to go up in flames.  By "selectively" thinning our 
forests, they are allowing more sunlight onto the forest floor, creating a 
fire hazard by speeding the growth of underbrush fuel.  To make matters 
worse, by clearcutting (they claim this enhances spotted owl habitat) and 
reseeding, they are growing evenİaged forests (tree farms) that would be 
entirely decimated by a fire.  When a fire occurs, underbrush, as well as 
trees with a low canopy are burned.  It is the large trees that survive, the 
very trees targeted for timber sales.    The real issue here is the fact that 
old growth trees contain massive board feet.  They also contain endangered 
species, who are protected by law.  Well, so we thought.
Under the rescissions bill, H.R. 1944, an unrelated "rider" was quietly 
slipped in.  The "rider from hell" was packaged and pushed on us by none 
other than the likes of League of Conservation Voter "zeroes" like 
Representatives Don Young, Mark Hatfield, Slade Gorton, Larry Craig, Frank 
Murkowski, and Charles Taylor to name a few.  These men all have extremely 
strong ties to the wise-use movement and large timber firms.  This "leach" 
rider happens to suspend environmental protection laws and covertly blocks 
citizen's rights to challenge illegal timber sales.  The "Emergency Salvage 
Timber Program" mandates public forests to be cut "to the maximum extent 
feasible"..."Notwithstanding any other provision of law."  It specifically 
exempts the Competition in Contracting Act, The Federal Procurement Policy 
Act, The Forest and Rangeland Policy Management Act, The National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), The Endangered Species Act (ESA), The 
National Forest Management Act, and the Multiple Sustainedİyield Act. It 
defines "salvage" as the removal of trees that are diseased or insect 
infected, dead, damaged, downed, burned, or "immediately susceptible" to 
being burned or eaten by bugs.  It also includes "associated trees" and 
"trees lacking the characteristics of a healthy and viable ecosystem." That 
about covers any forest on the chopping block.
Any court ruling that has held off sales are now NULL AND VOID under this 
law.  Public input is not required under the law, and citizens may not 
administratively appeal the decisions of agency officials.
While the law states "Citizens' rights to court action are not
prohibited," the law assures citizens' rights to recourse is made impossible. 
 A lawsuit must be filed in the local federal district court within 15 days 
of the advertisement of the sale.  So the time frame for such actions is a 
prohibition in itself.  If a case is filed, the sale is to be held up for 45 
days, after which no injunction or restraining order against the logging can 
be granted in the interim of the litigation.  Note that all important 
environmental laws have been suspended in the case of the salvage sales, so 
grounds for litigation are taken away as well.
To add insult to injury, Idaho's Senator Larry Craig has introduced  S. 391, 
which is designed to rid us of any stands of old growth in the National 
Forests that the Salvage Rider fails to cover.  If salvage sale money does 
not cover timber industry roadİbuilding subsidies, The Forest Service can 
then substitute funds appropriated for wildlife habitat, watershed 
restoration, recreation, etc..
In honor of the 1st birthday of this wonderful "forest health" law, I urge 
all to write, call, or eİmail President Clinton (president@whitehouse.gov), 
your Federal representatives, and your local newspaper to let them know how 
you feel.  I urge you also to call local radio talk shows on the
anniversary of the death of the public process, forest protection, and the 
perpetuation of corporate welfare and big bucks payoffs.
Forest health my butt.
Kelly.cowan@ebbs.cts.com
P.S. Information obtained or plagerized from Sierra and the earth First! 
Journal. Journal.  Hope y'all don't mind.  But hell, the salvage Rider is so 
broad, you may not even be able to sue me!!
--- SLMAIL v4.5a  (#1137)
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