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Your Comment is Badly Needed
The Forest Service, crazed with fire reduction mania, is lobbying
South Dakota's Senators to create national legislation to log
roadless areas on the Black Hills National Forest. Please tell
Senator Daschle and Senator Johnson not to give in to Forest Service
fire hysteria and to stand strong and protect the state's last
remaining wild places. Addresses and fax numbers can be found
below.
BACKGROUND
The Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota and Wyoming is a
forested island in the midst of the Great Plains - rich in biological
diversity. Nowhere else on the continent can be found such an array
of unique plant and animal communities within such a small area. But
this forest is also the most heavily logged and roaded forest in the
West. A century of logging and roadbuilding have left local
populations of black bear, several species of woodpeckers, northern
goshawk, and American dipper on the brink of extinction.
TARGETING ROADLESS AREAS
Now, the Forest Service is targeting the last roadless areas in South
Dakota's Black Hills - including the Beaver Park Roadless Area and
the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve - for destruction. Court orders
currently provide some protection for these last wild places. But
Forest Service officials are asking Congress to override the court
decisions, so that the agency can log and build roads - allegedly to
reduce fire risk. However, logging in the past has only made fire
risk worse by targeting the largest, oldest, most fire-resistant
trees. And heavy logging did not stop the spread of the large Jasper
Fire on the Black Hills two years ago.
PROTECT THE BLACK HILLS
Please contact South Dakota Senators Tom Daschle and Tim Johnson
today, telling them the last roadless areas of the Black Hills should
be protected from logging and road building. Your comment will make a
great difference!
Senator Tom Daschle
Room 509 SHOB - Senate
Hart Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-4103
Phone: 202-224-2321
Fax: 202-224-6603
Email:
tom_daschle@daschle.senate.gov
Senator Tim Johnson
Room 324 SHOB - Senate
Hart Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-4104
Phone: 202-224-5842
Fax: 202-228-5765
Email:
tim@johnson.senate.gov
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