Environment:

Deforestation

Unsustainable logging practices have consequences felt across ecosystems and cultures. On the local, state, national, and international levels,citizen-based campaigns are challenging those industries that compromise our heritage for the sake of a quick profit. Consider the domestic efforts of the Heritage Forests Campaign:

"51% of America's National Forests are already open to logging, mining, and
drilling.

The U.S. Forest Service issued the Forest protection policy in January 2001 after the most extensive public rulemaking in history, encompassing more than 600 public hearings and a record-breaking 1.6 million comments, (95 percent of which supported the strongest possible protection).

The Policy protects the last 31% of our National Forests from logging and drilling. Without protection, the timber, mining, and oil & gas special interests could threaten 80% of our forests. Once these forests are gone, they're gone forever.

But, recently the Bush administration announced it would propose changes in June to this popular forest conservation policy. While the Bush administration said it would uphold the protections, it proposed implementation on a forest-by-forest basis, giving a blank check to the timber industry to log these precious lands."

- Heritage Forests Campaign [source]

For more information on this and other issues, visit the Heritage Forests Campaign on the Internet.