The thought to keep in mind is that _you_ have electronic mail, and
can send e-mail to president at whitehouse.gov right now.....

(Unfortunately, Washington's Reps and Senators don't have e-mail for
their constituents yet, apparently.)
Peter
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
From: Western Ancient Forest Campaign <wafcdc at igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: ca.environment
Subject: Rpt fm DC 4/7 SALVAGE RIDER MUST BE VETOED
Date: Fri, 07 Apr 1995 18:36:01 -0700 (PDT)

REPORT FROM WASHINGTON
Western Ancient Forest Campaign 1400 16th St. NW #294 Washington,
D.C. 20036 Phone: 202/939-3324
WAFCDC at IGC.APC.ORG

NATIONAL REPORT - CONGRESS

GORTON SALVAGE RIDER PASSES SENATE BY NARROW MARGIN

Following a week of deliberations on the Senate version of
the FY 95 rescissions bill, H.R. 1158, Senate Majority Leader Bob
Dole (R-KS) and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD)
negotiated a compromise package that was characterized as an
attempt to reach agreement on a bill the President could sign.
The rescissions package was approved by the Senate on April 6 in a
vote of 99-0. The package included the salvage logging amendment
introduced by Sen. Slade Gorton (R-WA). A related amendment was
added by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) requiring a report to Congress on
the number of former federal employees who would be rehired to
conduct salvage timber operations without repaying their buy-out
bonuses.

Both Democratic and Republican staff continued to complain of
the relative lack of comment on or analysis of the matter from the
Forest Service and the Administration. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)
conveyed a request to Sen. Daschle that the Gorton rider be
dropped and Dole reportedly refused. Democratic Senators then
were faced with the choice of continuing to delay passage of the
package and not going home for the recess on time and accepting
the Gorton amendment. There was no further delay. Some Senate
staff were also left with the belief that Minority Leader
Daschle's acceptance of the package meant that the White House had
signaled acceptance of the basic elements likely to emerge from
the conference committee, which Senate staff projected would occur
after the April recess.

WAFC and activists from the West and Washington, D.C. met
with the staff of the Council on Environmental Quality, which
advises the President on environmental issues, on Monday, April 3,
to request that the White House inform the Congress more clearly
of the President's opposition to the salvage rider.

Early in the package deliberations, Sen. Murray offered an
amendment on Thursday, March 30, that was tabled by the Senate on
a 48-46 vote, effectively defeating it. The amendment was a
substitute for Sen. Gorton's salvage logging amendment, which
suspends all laws concerning logging on the National Forests
nationwide, including the Endangered Species Act. Critical
habitat for threatened and endangered species such as the chinook
salmon and the marbled murrelet, as well as roadless areas,
Ancient Forests, and riparian zones, are all subject to logging
without environmental review under the Gorton provision which is
similar to the Taylor-Dicks amendment passed by the House. Gorton
also adds provisions opening Option 9 matrix lands to cutting
without watershed analysis and reopens Section 318 sales which
include marbled murrelet habitat.

It is imperative that President Clinton tell the conferees to
drop the salvage riders or veto the bill if they do not. Senators
and Representatives voted against suspending the law in numbers
that would sustain a veto. The Administration announced its
opposition to sufficiency riders in a 3/23/95 news release
stating, "Insulating federal timber sales would put the Federal
government above laws that everyone else has to comply with. We
are concerned that these proposals would put a muzzle on the
American people's right to question their government."

Please call the White House at 202/456-6797 fax: 202/456-
2883 or mail a letter to The White House, Washington, D.C. 20500,
president at whitehouse.gov. Also contact Vice President Gore, Old
Executive Office Building, Rm. 274, Washington, D.C. 20501;
202/456-2326, fax: 202/456-7044, vicepresident at whitehouse.gov.

While claiming to deal only with timber that is diseased or
affected by fire, the Gorton amendment includes all trees which
are susceptible to fire or insect attack, which is every tree in
the forest. The broad language also exempts the Forest Service
from the normal administrative appeals process, effectively
cutting the public out of decisions concerning public lands and
ending our ability to hold the government accountable for
violations of the law.

On the Senate floor, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) said the Gorton
language, "Goes too far and rides roughshod over important
environmental statutes." Sen. Bill Bradley (D-NJ) stated, "I am
very disturbed because of the suspension of all federal
environmental laws." Gorton's amendment concerning salvage and
Option 9 reads "Notwithstanding any other law (including a law
under the authority of which any judicial order may be
outstanding...)." This is followed by other sections which read,
"Effect on Other Laws - Any timber sale prepared, advertised,
offered, awarded or operated . . . shall be deemed to satisfy the
requirements of all applicable Federal laws (including
regulations)..."

Sen. Murray's amendment was intended to address the same
issues raised by Sen. Gorton, only without suspending
environmental laws. Murray criticized Gorton's amendment saying,
"The problem with the Gorton amendment is the method, which will
take us back to where we were four years ago. Waiving laws didn't
work before, and will only make the problem worse now." While
environmentalists had reservations about Murray's amendment, she
deserves our admiration for having the courage to stand up to
Gorton. We all need to send her our thanks for defending
environmental laws. Please contact Sen. Murray at the U.S.
Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510, 202/224-2621 or 206/553-5545.

It should also be noted that four Republicans crossed party
lines to support the Murray amendment, Sens. Chaffee (RI),
Jeffords (VT), Cohen (ME) and Roth (DE). These Senators also
deserve special thanks. Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) was the only
Democrat to support Gorton. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO)
who recently switched parties, switched his vote after initially
supporting Murray to fall in line with most of his new party's
colleagues.

THE "100 DAYS" END APRIL 13

The 100 days of the Contract on America expire April 13, but
the House finished business early on April 8. The House will
recess from April 8 until May 1, and the Senate is expected to
recess from April 8 until April 23 offering activists an excellent
opportunity to meet with their elected officials back in the state
or district. Please call and set up meetings as soon as possible.
For those Representatives and Senators who supported the Taylor or
Gorton riders, this should be a recess they never forget, because
everywhere they appear publicly, such as town hall meetings,
citizens should be there to remind them of their folly.
Washington State activists can obtain a list of upcoming town hall
meetings from Bonnie Phillips-Howard at 360/652-9619. Letters to
the editor can be a very effective way to raise awareness within
the district about your Member's voting record.

The 104th Congress, led by Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich
is undoubtedly the most anti-environmental Congress this nation
has ever seen as demonstrated by the Taylor/Gorton Logging Without
Laws Riders. Every major environmental law from the Clean Water
Act to the Endangered Species Act is threatened and the
"regulatory reform" measures will make it very difficult to
achieve stronger levels of protection when needed in the future.
The Speaker has established his own comment line which can be
reached by calling 202/225-0600, so please feel free to give a
call and let the Speaker know what you think of the Contract on
America's Environment.

CITIZENS PROPOSE FOREST ECOSYSTEM HEALTH INITIATIVE

Representatives of a dozen forest conservation groups met at
WAFC's office on April 7 to discuss a draft Citizens Forest
Ecosystem Health Initiative (CFEHI) circulated by Felice Pace of
Klamath Forest Alliance. The CFEHI Initiative is intended to
address the damage caused to forest ecosystems by past logging,
roadbuilding and fire suppression and to counter current
administrative and Congressional initiatives being taken in the
name of "forest health". The CFEHI would offer a grassroots
alternative to destructive salvage logging proposals contained in
the Clinton Administration's Western Forest Health Initiative and
in proposed legislation such as the Taylor/Gorton salvage riders
and the Craig "Forest Health" bill, S. 391.

Discussion concluded with strong agreement that the
environmental community must communicate to the larger public and
administration that the "forest health" rhetoric must not be used
to pad the profits of the few at taypayers expense, and at the
expense of public forest lands.

The group also agreed that an effective Forest Ecosystem
Health strategy must:

Protect existing healthy areas, especially roadless
backcountry, from development. Our few remaining undeveloped
forests are by far the most healthy forests remaining in the West;
protect all riparian areas from logging and grazing; and
decommission unneeded portions of the thousands of miles of forest
roads for which there is no maintenance money budgeted.

The group agreed CFEHI should also focus thinning and "fuels
treatment" efforts on the already roaded potions of the
Urban/Wildlands interface, to reduce risks to lives and property,
and reduce the threat populated areas pose to adjacent wildlands;
and demand that these activites address real fuels problems
instead of focusing on salvage logging as a solution. Finally,
the CFEHI recommends restructuring fire programs and budgets to
integrate prevention and suppression and to deal with the backlog
of logging slash which is a major fire risk in our forests; and a
requirement that appropriate logging slash reduction is included
in all timber sale contracts.

The CFEHI Initiative is in its second draft and has received
input from over fifty concerned scientists and activists. The
Initiative will be submitted to interested parties for final
review on April 14. All comments must be received by April 17.
Mailnet activists should contact WAFC at 202/939-3324 or Felice
Pace of Klamath Forest Alliance at 916/467-5405 and provide a fax
# or email address to receive a copy of the Draft Initiative. The
Final Initiative will be sent out April 24 for sign-ons by
interested activists and organizations from a broad range of
interests including fishermen, taxpayers groups, scientists,
recreation interests and environmentalists. The sign-on deadline
will be May 1.

As part of the Initiative, CFEHI participant are asking
activists to identify two or three high priority areas in the
urban/wildland interface where real "fuels treatment" (not salvage
logging) could occur without damaging forest ecosystems. These
areas may be the site of high levels of logging slash; areas with
a past history of frequent, high intensity fire; areas surrounding
urban and/or rural development; and often all of the above. If
these places do not exist on your forest, this is also needed
information. The idea is to focus the fire and forest health
debate away from wild areas, ancient forests, and other sensitive
lands, and towards populated zones where fire is a major concern.
Participants also ask that activists identify two or three areas
in each National Forest in need of immediate rehabilitation of
roads or riparian zones (native reseeding, etc.).

These areas should be marked out on Forest Service
recreation maps for each forest. The goal is to offer concrete
examples of real problem areas which can be addressed immediately
without damaging forest ecosystems, with a focus on areas in need
of rehabilitation and areas where there may exist a real danger to
lives or property from wildfire. All maps should be completed by
April 17. Our intention is to compile this information for
inclusion in an Earth Day Press Release announcing the Initiative.