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Don't Weaken the Sierra Nevada Framework
The Sierra Nevada Framework, a painstakingly crafted management plan that aims to protect old growth forests and rare wildlife in the Sierra Nevada of California, is under attack. The Bush administration, egged on by the timber industry, is proposing to open up the national forests to commercial logging. Don't let this happen! Tell the Forest Service not to modify the existing plan - they're accepting comments until September 12.
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Oppose Plans to Alter the Sierra Nevada Framework
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
I am strongly opposed to the Forest Service's plan for extensive commercial logging in the Sierra Nevada. I urge the Forest Service to maintain existing protections for old-growth stands and California spotted owl habitat. And I call on the Forest Service to allow commercial logging only as a tool for reducing the risks to lives and property from wildfire.
The Forest Service has truncated the environmental review process required by law by describing the proposed changes to the Framework as non-significant. For this reason, the Forest Service did not provide a public "scoping" process prior to releasing the draft plan and environmental impact statement. I am deeply disturbed that the Forest Service has used this technique to effectively shut the public out of any meaningful opportunity to shape the proposal, the analysis, or the alternatives considered in the environmental impact statement. I demand that the Service follow the full procedures required by law for significant forest plan amendments.
Please don't illegally open up the Sierra Nevada to an environmentally dangerous timber industry assault.
Sincerely,
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Campaign Launched:
September 02, 2003
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The Sierra Nevada Framework is the Forest Service's first comprehensive, Sierra Nevada-wide plan to reduce the threat of wildfire and preserve old-growth stands from logging. The changes proposed by the Forest Service would effectively remove standards and guidelines for logging plans (outlined below). This would greatly increase the likelihood of logging, particularly in the valuable old growth areas coveted by the timber industry.
 A 1996 report by the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project found that old growth forests in the Sierra Nevada have been significantly reduced. The report also concluded that aquatic and riparian ecosystems “are the most altered and impaired habitats of the Sierra.” The loss and degradation of old growth forests and rivers and streams threatens numerous species of fish and wildlife, including the California spotted owl, Yosemite toad, mountain yellow-legged frog, and the Pacific fisher.
To protect the Sierra’s old growth, aquatic, and riparian ecosystems, the framework establishes standards and guidelines that must be satisfied by any site-specific logging plan in the 11 million acres of national forest lands. These standards & guidelines include:
- designation of 4.25 million acres as “old forest emphasis areas” that will be managed to promote old growth forest conditions
- protection of all remaining old growth stands (5 acres or larger)
- protection for all large trees (20-inch diameter or greater), with the exception of the urban-wildland interface
- designation of wide management buffers along rivers and streams
- generally limiting logging to thinning of smaller trees in areas of high wildfire risk
 The framework represents the culmination of eight years of planning by the Forest Service, involving scientists and thousands of public comments. It follows withdrawal of two previous draft plans based upon environmental concerns and a review by a federal advisory committee. The framework meets these objections and balances protection with fire risk reduction, recreation use, and other concerns.
Given the huge effort that produced the framework, it is particularly disturbing that the Forest Service has truncated the environmental review process of their proposed changes, required by law, by describing the proposed changes to the framework as non-significant. For this reason, the Forest Service did not provide a public "scoping" process prior to releasing the draft plan and environmental impact statement. Therefore, the public did not have an adequate opportunity to shape the proposal, the analysis, or the alternatives considered in the environmental impact statement.
Please tell the Forest Service not to alter the Sierra Nevada Framework and to follow the full procedures required by law for significant plan amendments. The service is collecting public comments on whether to modify the framework. The deadline is September 12.
If you would like to mail or fax your comments to the Forest Service, you can send them directly to:
Jack A. Blackwell, Regional Forester
Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment DSEIS
P.O. Box 221090
Salt Lake City, UT 84122-1090
FAX: 801-517-1014
snfpa@fs.fed.us
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