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FOREST HEALTH DEAL LACKS SCIENTIFIC BASIS
 
     The forest health negotiations between Sen. Craig and Senate
Democrats ignores the latest scientific findings on the issue of fire
and forest health.  A scientific assessment released by the Sierra
Nevada Ecosystem Project on Friday, June 7, states that, "More than
any other human activity, logging has increased the risk and
severity of fires by removing the cooling shade of trees and leaving
flammable debris."  This peer-reviewed assessment by an
independent group of 107 scientists was commissioned by Congress
to provide essential information for an ecosystem-wide approach to
land management. 
 
     The Sierra study makes clear that logging does not reduce fire
risk -- it actually increases it.  The study also says that there is no
evidence the frequency or severity of fires in increasing in the Sierra
Nevada.  The Sierra assessment offers the first credible scientific
analysis on this important issue of fire management and runs
contrary to the "conventional wisdom" which says that logging to
reduce fuel loads will prevent and lessen the severity of forest fires. 
The Sierra assessment recommends that the best policy to restore
the Sierra forests would include the creation of old growth forest
reserves, increased use of prescribed fires to reduce fuels loads, and
an ecosystem based management approach.
 
     To obtain a copy of the summary of the Sierra Nevada
Ecosystem Project: Final Report to Congress, please contact: Sierra
Nevada Ecosystem Project, 916/752-8070, Room 2140, Hart Hall,
University of California, Davis, CA 95616 or check
http://www.ceres.ca.gov/snep 
 
 
LOGGING RIDER NOT NEEDED FOR SALVAGE LOGGING PROGRAM
 
     Proponents of the Timber Salvage rider argue that the rider
was necessary to carry out an effective salvage program of dead and
dying trees on the public lands.  This is simply not true.  Prior to
the salvage logging rider, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of
Land Management were conducting an aggressive salvage program. 
Here a look at the numbers as compiled by Bob Wolf, retired
researcher from the Congressional Research Service.
 
     For the ten year period of 1979 - 1988, the Total Receipts for
     Salvage Sales was $166.4 million from a Total Volume of
     Salvage was 1.76  Billion Board Feet.
 
     For the seven year period from 1989 - 1995, the Total Receipts
     for Salvage Sales was $1.136 billion from a Total Volume of
     Salvage was 5.5 Billion Board Feet.
 
     This data indicates a substantial and steady expansion of
salvage logging after 1988.  The average volume increased from 176
million board feet from 1979-1988 to an average of 785 million board
feet from 1989 - 1995, and in the year just prior to the rider (FY
1995), an estimated 1.2 billion board of salvage was removed from
the National Forests.  
 
     In addition, Chief Jack Ward Thomas of the U.S. Forest
Service, supported these facts when he repeatedly testified before
Congress during hearings about the logging rider that the Forest
Service has adequate authority to carry an effective salvage program
and that the salvage rider was not necessary to log dead trees. 
Chief Thomas has also testified that the Forest Service intends to
continue the salvage program at the highest level the agency's
funding level will allow.
 
 
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS NEW VOICES FOR FOREST PROTECTION 
 
     "Troubled Waters" features sport and commercial fishermen, a
horse logger, an economist, a city water supply manager, and a
taxpayer advocate, all speaking out about the economic importance
of protecting our national forests.  The 11-minute video program
will be distributed nationwide by a network of roughly 100
nonprofit groups and thousands of concerned citizens in an effort to
raise public awareness of the economic value of preserving public
forests, which are now being devastated by an accelerated logging
program.  "Troubled Waters" shows that the current timber sale
program on the national forests: 
 
* destroys far more long-term, sustainable jobs than the short-term
jobs it creates 
* negatively impacts the commercial and sport fishing industries
* decimates wild salmon and trout populations
* damages clean drinking water supplies
* intensifies the impact of catastrophic floods, forcing local and
federal taxpayers to foot the enormous clean-up and repair bills
* drains hundreds of millions of dollars annually from the US
Treasury, adding to the national debt
 
     Longtime public advocate Ralph Nader, who appears in
"Troubled Waters," decries the injustice of making the American
public pay for the destruction of its own assets. "I don't think that
we should ever allow below cost timber sales, which in the last
three years. . .has cost the taxpayers a billion dollars-a billion
dollars to pay for the timber companies to build the roads and
provide the infrastructure and then sell our timber on our land at
below cost," says Ralph Nader in the video program. 
 
     "Troubled Waters" was produced by Green Fire Productions, a
nonprofit organization that creates video materials for use by the
nonprofit community.  Green Fire also produced "Logs, Lies, &
Videotape," a short, educational video program on the salvage
logging rider that has been widely distributed since its release at the
beginning of the year.  "Troubled Waters" is now available to you
inexpensively, in bulk, as a public education and organizing tool.
Like "Logs, Lies, & Videotape," it should be distributed to the
general public, to your media contacts, and to your political
representatives and government officials.  We expect this tape to
resonate with a broader, more mainstream audience than "Logs,
Lies" could reach, so we encourage you to be creative and daring in
choosing target audiences. We will provide a variety of
supplementary written materials.  To order: "Troubled Waters" will
be $7 for one, $4 for each additional, or $3 a piece for 10 or more.
You can order via phone, mail, or e-mail (grnfire@peak.org).
Postage is included in all prices. Checks should be made out to
"Green Fire" and mailed to PO BOX 11216, Eugene, OR 97440.