|
1996 FWOC
Resolution
No. 5:
SAVE GIFFORD PINCHOT NATIONAL FOREST
|
|
Washington's Gifford
Pinchot National Forest includes Mount Adams, all of Mount St. Helens
and foothills of Mount Rainier as well as hundreds of lakes and miles
of rivers and streams. It also includes the Goat Rocks, Indian
Heaven, and the Trapper Creek Wilderness areas. Extending from
the south border of Mt. Rainier National Park to the banks of the
Columbia River, the Gifford Pinchot NF is the most-visited national
forest in Washington, and is also the seventh most popular recreational
forest in the United States.
|
In spite of these
impressive qualities, the U.S. Forest Service is planning to auction
off (via timber sales) thousand of acres of old-growth and
late-succession forest in (or immediately adjacent to) areas highly
prized for their recreation, wilderness, and scenic values.
Additionally, many of the proposed sales will severely impact habitat
for spotted owls and many other species of birds and wildlife -
including more than a dozen listed under the Endangered Species Act.
|
|
The Federation of Western
Outdoor Clubs calls on the U.S. Forest Service to: (1) Initiate an
immediate critical review of its timber sales program. (2) To take all
actions necessary to cancel any old-growth or late-succession sales
adjacent to existing administratively or legislatively protected areas
adjacent to trails, or within forest tracts identified by wildlife
professional as habitats of endangered or threatened species.
|
...................................................................................................................
|
|
FWOC members Member Clubs with an interest
in this important issue are urged to write the following persons
providing comments of their own along with a copy of the above
Resolution to:
|
|
Forest Supervisor, Gifford
Pinchot National Forest (see attached listing at the end of these
Resolutions)
|
|
Regional Forester, Pacific
Northwest Region
|
|
Chief, U.S. Forest
Service, Washington, DC
|
|
