Via The Wilderness Society:

Urge Your Member of Congress to Vote YES on the Hinchey-Wolf Amendment

An important vote affecting Wilderness areas and other public lands will be on the House floor this Wednesday, June 13.

Congressmen Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Frank Wolf (R-VA) will offer an amendment to The Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill this Wednesday to postpone final designation of two huge multi-state proposed energy transmission corridors for one year. These two corridors – one in the East and one in the Southwest – cover 11 states and over 210 counties inhabited by nearly 75 million Americans.

Please add your own words to the letter [here], then click on Send this Message. And thank you!

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts the wilderness society wildlife conservation Hinchey-Wolf Amendment The Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill doe Department of Energy Energy Policy Act of 2005 public land private land National Interest Electricity Transmission Corridors

UPDATE, 7/3/07, via the Wilderness Society:

Thank Your Congressperson for Protecting the Tongass National Forest

Thank you is a word we probably don’t say enough, but now is the time to do just that.

Please write your Congressional Representative today to thank him or her for voting yes on an amendment the House approved for the Interior budget. The Andrews-Chabot Amendment stops wasting taxpayer dollars building new logging roads in the Tongass National Forest, America’s largest intact rainforest.

U.S. Representatives Robert E. Andrews (D-New Jersey, 1st) and Steve Chabot (R-Ohio, 1st) lead the bipartisan floor effort and deserve an additional thanks.

To let your representative know how much protecting the ecological integrity of the Tongass and the quality of life for southeast Alaska communities means to you, write your member of Congress [here].

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UPDATE, 6/12/07:

Looks like the Sierra Club wants in on the action too:

Take Action: Save Wild Alaskan Forests!

Known as America’s Rainforest, the Tongass National Forest is our nation’s most significant tract of old-growth forest and provide abundant habitat for a diversity of fish and wildlife species, many of which have declined substantially in the lower 48 states. Now the Forest Service is planning new logging roads and timber sales in this wild roadless forest, despite the fact that the Forest Service typically loses an average of $40 million each year logging this area. It’s time for Congress to take common sense action to eliminate these destructive practices.

Urge your member of Congress to stop subsidies for logging in the Tongass!

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Two more enviro alerts, this time in regards to upcoming Congressional votes that concern funding for federal lands and agencies.

First, from the Natural Resources Defense Council:

Tell your representative to protect the Tongass and other national treasures

The House of Representatives will vote this week on two critical appropriations bills that will determine how much to spend on
our most important environmental programs, including those that protect the Tongass National Forest and other public wildlands.

One important amendment would stop the Forest Service from spending our tax dollars to build logging roads through pristine
forestlands in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. For decades American taxpayers have been forced to subsidize nearly a billion dollars worth of clearcut logging in the Tongass — our country’s largest national forest and the world’s largest intact coastal temperate rainforest. Now the Forest Service has proposed increasing logging to five times current levels — and building thousands of miles of new roads at a cost of tens of millions of dollars every year. The Andrews-Chabot amendment to the Interior appropriations bill would end these harmful subsidies and protect the Tongass.

(more…)

Via The Wilderness Society:

Help stop motorized recreation from destroying the Owyhees

Rising sharply from the Snake River plains of Western Idaho, the Owyhee Mountains are home to pronghorn, soaring raptors and many other species. But this area has been badly overrun by off-road vehicles (ORVs) leading to population losses among some animals, including mule deer and sage grouse, as well as significant resource destruction.

Now the BLM is putting together a long term plan that will determine where ORVs will be allowed in the Owyhee Mountains, and your voice is urgently needed.

We need you to weigh in with the agency. In fact, your voice in this debate is more important than ever before, because the Blue Ribbon Coalition, a nationwide ORV group headquartered in Idaho is organizing its members to tell the BLM to continue to allow high levels of motorized use.

To take quick action, go to action.wilderness.org/campaign/owyhee_orv/

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts the wilderness society Owyhees Snake River Western Idaho Owyhee Mountains OVRs off-road vehicles wildlife conservation nature Blue Ribbon Coalition BLM Bureau of Land Management

Via The Wilderness Society:

Ironwood National Monument

Ironwood Forest National Monument, 25 miles northwest of Tucson Arizona, was established because of its unique and extraordinary natural and cultural resources, including evidence of 5,000 years of human habitation.

After years of illegal off-road vehicle travel, unfettered target shooting, and encroaching mining activity, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is moving forward on a long term management plan for the Monument. You can help ensure that plan is a good one. Please add your thoughts to our letter [here], then click on “Send this Message.”

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts the wilderness society Ironwood Forest National Monument Tucson Arizona Bureau of Land Management BLM land management

Via The Wilderness Society:

Roadless Area Protection – Make it Law

With open space dwindling and our public lands being targeted for many kinds of development, the natural areas on our national forests are more precious than ever. These undisturbed, roadless areas are important for wildlife, clean water, recreation and spiritual renewal.

Sens. Cantwell and Warner will introduce legislation shortly to protect our last remaining wild forests from harmful development. Their bill will be stronger if more Senators sign on. Please ask your senators to co-sponsor this bill.

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts The Wilderness Society wilderness conservation roadless roadless rules green space pollution

UPDATE, 5/10/07:

See also: Protect Mount St. Helens National Monument, from the Wilderness Society.

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Via Audubon:

Protect the Mt. St. Helens National Monument – Stop The Proposed Mine

The Bureau of Land Management recently released an Environmental Assessment outlining their preliminary decision to grant a lease to Idaho General Mines for a 3,000 acre mine site directly bordering Mt. St. Helens National Monument. Now is the time to let them know why this proposed mine is a bad idea and how it would affect a national treasure.

The value of this site for wildlife habitat has long been recognized. The lease area enters a designated Roadless Area, and encroaches on an ancient forest over 270 years old.

This is potential nesting habitat for the endangered Northern Spotted Owl and for several birds listed as ‘needing conservation’ on the 2004 Washington State of the Birds report including: Northern Goshawk, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Vaux’s Swift, and American Blackback Woodpecker. The effects on all these species from a mine—traffic, toxic dust, stream destruction, and so on—have not yet been assessed.

As more money and effort is expended, momentum will build to grant the mining company further leases to begin mining.

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts audubon Mt. St. Helens national monument BLM Bureau of Land Management mine mining wildlife conservation the wilderness society

Via The Wilderness Society:

Don’t let drilling destroy the Upper Green

Welcome to the southern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, with its mountain vistas, sagebrush mesas, and verdant ribbons of forest. Home to the longest wildlife migration corridor in the lower 48, the Upper Green River Valley is quickly being consumed by gas drilling, resulting in hazy skies, heavy traffic, and greatly reduced populations of wildlife.

Even so, the Bush Administration plans to triple the number of wells there, to more than 10,000 gas wells. But there’s an alternative plan – one that promotes balance and sensible growth. Help us tell the Bureau of Land Management to choose a better plan before the June 18 public comment deadline.

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts the wilderness society drilling yellowstone Upper Green River Valley gas wildlife conservation

Via The Wilderness Society:

No drilling in Wyoming Range!

The Wyoming Range, a part of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem, has caught the interest of the energy industry, which hopes that the huge payouts found in the neighboring Upper Green River Valley will extend into the mountains.

One Houston energy firm is seeking to drill wildcat wells in the Range’s upper Hoback drainage. The drill site would be in a Roadless area considered crucial winter range for moose and vital for the recovery of Canada lynx. A lucrative energy strike here could usher in an onslaught of industrial drilling across the Wyoming Range, degrading the character of this scenic mountain range forever.

The Wilderness Society is part of an effort to stop this project. You can help by weighing in with the Forest Service.

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts the wilderness society drilling wildlife conservation Wyoming Range Yellowstone energy

UPDATE, 5/15/07:

Here’s a similar alert, this time from the National Parks Conservation Association:

America’s First National Park at a Crossroads

Ten million dollars. That’s how much has been spent on scientific studies that clearly demonstrate that Yellowstone’s air quality, peace and quiet, and wildlife would be best protected if snowmobiles were replaced with the expanded public access offered by modern snowcoaches. So why is Yellowstone National Park proposing to allow daily snowmobile limits to continue at 720 snowmobiles per day–nearly triple the current daily average of 250? Make sense to you? We didn’t think so, either. Nearly 300,000 people have vocally demonstrated their opposition to snowmobile use in Yellowstone. Sound science backs up that public outcry. Most importantly, the policy that guides park managers on resource protection says the park service must select the ‘least impacting’ forms of transportation for parks. Snowmobiles in Yellowstone violates park policy, rebuke science and directly ignore public sentiment. A decision in favor of continued snowmobile use could have devastating results on Yellowstone’s resources, wildlife and, visitor experience. Tell the Park Service that you want to put the issue of snowmobile use in Yellowstone to bed once and for all.

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Via The Wilderness Society:

Yellowstone Deserves Better

Despite repeated and conclusive studies that show that snowmobiles add to air and noise pollution and disturb wildlife in Yellowstone, the Bush Administration is proposing to allow up to triple the current permitted number of snowmobiles into America’s first national park.

Tell the Park Service to mind the science, and protect Yellowstone. Together, we can stop this nonsensical scheme.

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts the wilderness society yellowstone snowmobiles bush george bush gw bush george w. bush national park pollution wildlife conservation National Parks Conservation Association npca

Via The Wilderness Society:

Keep Wyoming Wildlife Safe!

The Pinedale Anticline in western Wyoming’s Upper Green River Valley harbors significant winter range for world class populations of mule deer, pronghorn and sage grouse, as well as large herds of moose and elk. It also occupies ground zero in the Bush Administration’s plan to sacrifice ecologically sensitive public lands to the oil and gas industry.

The Anticline is a highly profitable gas field outside the town of Pinedale where industry is seeking to radically escalate the level of development, from 500 wells now to more than 4,000 in the future. This, despite ample evidence that past drilling has pushed wintering mule deer off this crucial piece of winter
habitat.

The Wilderness Society is part of an effort to reduce the scale of this project. You can help by weighing in with the BLM. To send a letter and be heard, click here.

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts The Wilderness Society Wyoming Pinedale Anticline Upper Green River Valley wildlife conservation BLM oil gas drilling