The Loma Prietan
November 2001
Forest Protection Bill Surges Forward,
But Rep. Eshoo’s Support is Still Needed
by Doug Bevington
The Sierra Club’s national conservation priority campaign to end commercial logging on our national forests has reached an important milestone. Thanks to the work of concerned citizens around the country, the National Forest Protection and Restoration Act (HR 1494)—a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that is central to this campaign—has over 100 Congressional co-sponsors!
It has also made notable progress locally. The most recent of those co-sponsors is Rep. Mike Honda, whose district extends from San Jose down to hills above Santa Cruz. He announced his intention to support this bill at a town hall meeting in response to requests from local Sierra Club members.
Legislative analysts contend that passing the 100 co-sponsor mark is an important indicator that a bill has strong backing. On July 30, a swell of support from four more Representatives—including Rep. George Miller (Richmond)—pushed HR 1494 over that threshold. They were then joined by Rep. Ellen Tauscher (Walnut Creek) and Rep. Honda after Congress came back into session in September.
HR 1494 now has 105 co-sponsors, more than any other piece of major forest protection legislation. However, the continued progress of this legislation will depend on gaining support from more members of Congress, including Rep. Anna Eshoo.
This legislation is urgently needed. Logging in national forests is not only ecologically destructive, but also an economic waste. Research confirmed by the Congressional Research Service—the non-partisan research arm of the U.S. Congress—has shown that the Forest Service’s timber sales program operates at a net loss to taxpayers of over one billion dollars per year. We are actually subsidizing the timber industry to pillage our public lands! Logging on national forests is also unnecessary. Only 3% of U.S. wood consumption comes from our national forests, a tiny fraction that can easily be replaced by a little more recycling, a little less waste, or ‘tree-free’ alternatives.
HR 1494 will end the destructive, wasteful, and unnecessary federal timber sales program. It then redirects the money saved into ecological restoration, assistance for rural communities, support for tree-free alternatives, and $300 million per
year in taxpayer savings. HR 1494 also includes clear provisions to prevent unnaturally severe forest fires and protect homes adjacent to forests from fire, while avoiding the ‘commercial logging as
fire prevention’ sham being pushed by
the timber industry.
HR 1494 makes both ecological and economic sense. It should come as no surprise, then, that HR 1494 has bipartisan support in Congress, including 24
co-sponsors from California. Every Congressperson from the Bay Area is
now a co-sponsor, with one exception: Rep. Anna Eshoo (Palo Alto) has not yet signed on. Her support is imperative for the continued progress of HR 1494. Please contact Rep. Eshoo and ask her to join her colleagues in co-sponsoring this important legislation. Also please thank Rep. Honda for his support in defense of our national forests.