FEDERATION OF WESTERN OUTDOOR CLUBS

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OPPOSE THE MISNAMED "HEALTHY FOREST RESTORATION ACT"

Under the guise of preventing catastrophic forest fires in the west, the present administration has sponsored a bill entitled "The Healthy Forests Restoration Act" (H. R. 1904) which has passed the House of Representatives and is now moving quickly in the Senate. This bill, heartily endorsed by the big lumber companies, would increase the amount of logging, particularly the cutting of big trees, in the back country.

It would also circumvent the National Environmental Protection Act process by not allowing citizen appeals of bad timber projects for environmental reasons. However, it would not assure protection for communities at risk nor do anything to reduce brush and small trees, which are clogging our forests because of previous poor management practices. It could also have a devastating effect on forest-dependent species.

The Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs strongly opposes H. R. 1904 and requests that real fire protection be given to communities at risk by congressional funding of projects that are designed to reduce the danger from wildfire in the urban-forest interface.


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