Investigate Violence in the Southwest against Endangered Species
12/7/98
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Title: Investigate Violence in the Southwest against Endangered Species
Source: American Lands
726 7th Street, SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
202/547-9105
202/547-9213 fax
wafcdc@americanlands.org
Status: Distribute and reprint freely with proper credit to source
Date: 12/7/98
FOREST FOCUS, the bulletin of American Lands, December 7, 1998
To reach us call (202)547-9400, fax (202)547-9213, or email
wafcdc@americanlands.org
INVESTIGATIONS NEEDED: Conservation groups are asking the FBI to help
investigate violence against endangered species in the Southwest. The
groups have sent a letter to Secretary Babbitt requesting a multi- agency
strikeforce, including the FBI, to investigate and prosecute those
involved with recent attacks including shooting endangered wolves,
sabotaging trout streams and dewatering rivers. Please contact Interior
Secretary Babbitt at 202/208-7351 and ask for an investigation of these
attacks on the environment in the Southwest. For more information contact
Sam Hitt, Forest Guardians at 505/988-9126 or sam@nets.com
TRUST FUNDS ELIMINATED?: Officials in the Agriculture Department are
considering eliminating harmful Forest Service "off- budget" trust funds,
reports the Salt Lake Tribune on November 21. Money from trust funds,
which are valued at between $400 and $500 million, would be put "on line"
and chanelled through the U.S. Treasury, and unlike the current system,
would be subject to Congressional oversight. The move is in response to
pressure from groups like Forest Service Employees for Environmental
Ethics (FSEEE), who is calling on the Forest Service to end ongoing abuse
and misuse of the funds. "There is not an item in the Forest Service's
budget that doesn't have some piece of the trust fund," said Andy Stahl,
FSEEE's executive director. "Everything from lights to computers to
employee salaries, no matter how removed they are from planting trees."
For more information, contact Dave Wise, American Lands at 202/547- 9163,
davewise@juno.com
HEADWATERS UPDATES: The Fish and Wildlife Service has been overwhelmed by
an estimated 18,000 written comments on the Headwaters HCP. The majority
of these comments are critical of the plan and this count does not include
the oral comments made at California hearings. This is also the one year
anniversary of Julia Butterfly's continuous tree-sit in protest of the
Headwaters Forest Agreement and HCP. There is a rally at the site, south
of Eureka in celebration of Julia's occupation on Saturday, December 12.
For more information on these stories please contact Headwaters Sanctuary
Project at headwaters@enews.org
ENVIRONMENT OUTWEIGHS CHIP MILLS: The environmental and economic value of
intact forests outweighs the need for chip mills in North Carolina states
an editorial in the November 29 Raleigh News and Observer. The trees
remaining from logging provide habitat for wildlife and hold mountain soil
in place, but portable chipping mills are making it more profitable to
leave woods completely stripped. Due to stiffer stormwater runoff
regulations on chip mills there is a moratorium on new mills in the state
and the timber industry is finally sitting down with regulators and
environmentalists to decide the future of North Carolina forests. "There
is a delicate balance between perserving timber and preserving the
economy," said the editorial. "But chip mills, with their rapacious
appetites, pose a danger of tipping that balance too far to one side."
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Steve Holmer
Campaign Coordinator
American Lands
726 7th Street, SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
202/547-9105
202/547-9213 fax
wafcdc@americanlands.org