Supporters of the Wildlands Project (including the main stream environmental movement) whose goal is to place restrictions similar or more restrictive than wilderness 50 percent of the U.S. oppose this bill. The push for wilderness is just part of the effort to bring the Wildlands Project to fruition.

As I mentioned, this initiative will continue to be debated this week (Sept. 16th to the 20th). Take action now and send a letter to your congressional representatives supporting the President's initiative.

Please send a letter, fax or email (letters and faxes are best) in support of fuel reduction and President Bush's Healthy Forest Initiative. This issue will be hotly debated in the coming days as fires still burn in the west.

Please show your support for rational change to forest policy. Here is the contact info:

To send and email to the decision makers:

http://capwiz.com/landsense/issues/alert/?alertid=1157026&type=CU

To Send a letter or fax

We urge you to send a letter as soon as possible! We must let our professional land managers use the tools they have available to them to reduce this fire threat.

The subject of your emails, faxes, and letters should be "Support the Healthy Forests Initiative." Compose your own letter or cut and paste the letter below (personalize it).

(Thanks to Rose Comstock-Correira, Alliance for America, for this information).

Dear Senator: As a constituent concerned with the health of our national forests and more importantly, for the people and communities near our forests, I support the President's Healthy Forest Initiative. I urge you to support the Craig-Domenici forest amendment to protect our forests from risk from fire. Stewardship contracting is one vehicle used by the US Forest Service that works in areas where fuel accumulation is extremely heavy and can cost the tax payer millions of dollars to remove. In the Quincy Library Group area the Hungry Creek Stewardship Contract proved successful, treating 4,000 acres of critical watershed on the Plumas National Forest in California. I urge you to support this innovative way of reducing the risk of wildfire. Secondly, environmental organizations have used the courts to stop logical fuel reduction projects across the western forests. One only needs to review the appeal web page at the US Forest Service web site to find the numerous appeals filed just in the last few years. Filing appeals to stop all harvesting in National Forests is not the responsible way to deal with the critical conditions that now exist. These actions must not be allowed to stop responsible management of the public lands. I encourage you to support exempting fuel reduction projects proposed across the western forests from litigation. Again, I urge you to support the forest fire amendment Senators Craig and Domenici are expected to offer to the Interior Appropriations bill, or any other amendment that would waive environmental protects to finally address the huge build up of forest fuels in National Forests. Thank you for your time and attention. Sincerely,

Senator Feinstein Phone: (415) 393-0707 Fax: (619) 231-1108 Fax: (310) 914-7318 Fax: (415) 989-3242 Fax: (202) 228-3954 Fax: (559) 485-9689 Senator Jeff Bingnam Phone (202) 224-5521 Fax (202) 224-2852 Senator Ron Wyden Phone (202) 224-5244 Fax (202) 228-2717

Senator Max Baucus Phone (202) 224-2651 Fax (202) 228-3687 Senator Mark Dayton Phone (202) 224-3244 Fax (202) 228-2186 Senator Blanche Lincoln Phone (202) 224-4843 Fax (202) 228-1371

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