Well the BLM is at it again and this time they've ignored popular opinion and outcry to allow logging of the old growth forests on Mt. Hood.  Bastards.  Bastards, bastards, bastards!

I know that this is a local issue and so, what can a New Yorker do?  But I also know that we all know every bit makes a difference.  If our pols get it through their damn skulls that old growth forests need to be protected no matter what, we might be ok.  

Below the fold is an email alert I received yesterday; it's also online.  Please make sure to share it with any Oregonians you know and let's use this as yet another excuse to bombard our congresscritters. Oooh!!!  I'ma go talk to Wyden since they're all on vacation.

How quickly can an ecosystem be destroyed?  

Try six years.  Witness neglect and contempt by the Bush regime.  The article referenced beneath the fold says more than I can say.

 Several days ago, testvet6778 diaried about how a Federal Judge rules Bush admin Illegally Changed Forest Rules.

In a victory for environmentalists and the citizens of this nation, U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton ruled that the Forest Service is to suspend its 2005 rule and subject it to a new round of analysis, taking into account environmental protections and public-participation requirements in the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Administrative Procedures Act.

While there was jubilation, there was also anticipation that the Bush administration would find another way to accomplish the same goals.

The other shoe is dropping. (more)

I've blogged a couple times about this over the last few months, but recent photos have prompted me to write about this again.  Oil and gas drilling has reached epic proportions in northwest Pennsylvania.  This is a NATIONAL ISSUE but is just not getting the attention it deserves (like many of our environmental issues).  If something is not done to stop the rate of oil and gas development, Pennsylvania's only national forest, the Allegheny National Forest, will have to be renamed the Allegheny National Oil and Gas Field.

I blogged about this about a month ago here, but recent revelations have warranted a fresh entry on this matter.  As the title of this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article states, oil and gas drilling is "out of control" in Pennsylvania's Allegheny National Forest.  The Allegheny stands as a sad example of what is wrong with our energy policy and how we will never drill ourselves to energy independence.

We all know that the Bush Administration's energy plan includes exploiting our public lands through increased oil and gas drilling.  While much of the debate over drilling for oil and gas has focused on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Rocky Mountains, drilling for oil and gas in Pennsylvania's Allegheny National Forest is at record levels.  Of course, you wouldn't know it by the lack of media coverage, with a recent notable exception by the Pittsburgh City Paper, but make no mistake...this is one of the most serious environmental issues facing northern Pennsylvania and is a tragic example of what is wrong with our nation's energy policies.

My series on the CONSERVATION ECONOMY makes these main points:

1. Conservation pays, conservation pays immediately and conservation pays on multiple levels. Whether you are talking wilderness or windfarms, conservation pays;

2. The conservation economy is a bridging issue.  One that can cross boundaries to bring divergent interests together, bring the conservation movement into the mainstream and realize sustainable economic benefit for communities that seek to be conservation-minded.

HUMAN powered outdoor recreation is a significant portion of the Conservation Economy.  It's a $730 BILLION Industry that supports 6.5 million jobs across the nation and generates $88 billion in state and national tax revenue every year.

These roadless areas form the watershed of some of the most valuable wild salmon and steelhead habitat in the United States and are bordered by the world renowned Kalmiopsis Wilderness. Logging in these areas would devastate old growth forests, damage water quality and key wildlife habitat in one of the wildest corners of Oregon.

By JEFF BARNARD / Associated Press WKG Northwest news The U.S. Forest Service auctioned off timber-cutting rights Friday on 261 acres within the largest swath of undeveloped national forest on the West Coast.

Oregon Live: Competing against one other bidder, John West, president of Silver Creek Timber Co. of Merlin, went more than $64,000 over the minimum bid, offering $300,052 for the right to log 9.4 million board feet of the South Kalmiopsis Roadless Area.

Imagine how surprised the USDA Forest Service communications office was this morning when I called them to verify that the sale was off.  I could actually picture the woman's head spinning. She replied emphatically, that the Bush administration still wanted to sell this land to support rural schools and that Mr. Taylor was wrong, the sale was not off.

Why would Charles Taylor be so interested in curbing the tide rising up against this proposition?  Find out below the fold....

A recent U.S. Forest Service study predicted that more than 44 million acres of private forest land, an area twice the size of Maine, will be sold over the next 25 years.

Anyway, Environmental Action has launched an on-line rally to collect 1,000 photos from citizens across the country showcasing the very places we cherish--many of which are at risk.  The album will be delivered to every Member of Congress when it's complete.  

At the very least, this will be a great tool to remind many of the key Democrats to fight this proposal until it's dead.

The Bush administration, through the offices of the United States Forest Service, is making a humble proposition: Sell over 300,000 acres of National Forest to shore up underfunded rural schools.

The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 was set up to allow proceeds from timber sales off public lands to supplement rural education funding. The problem with logging the forest in order to pay for education, of course, is that the tress eventually all get chopped down while the children keep coming year after year. So, the Bush administration, in it's far-thinking wisdom now proposes to do away with the logging idea and just sell the land outright.

Rural schoolkids deserve a real commitment to education funding in this country, not stopgap measures that injure economies, environment, and quality of life for all Americans who enjoy and appreciate the National Forests.

There is little dispute that we, collectively, own considerable acreage that really has little or no "National" significance, and I propose that disposing of some or most of this land COULD be done in a manner that benefits us all, if done with an eye on the future.

They justify this by saying that they will use the money to fully fund schools. Seems to me (and everyone else with a functioning cortex) that BushCo is stroking the logging industry with the destruction of some of the only virgin forest in the state of Missouri.

My question is this, What can I do to stop those assholes from killing our forest? I need a creative nonviolent solution. Ideas?

This stuff would be gut-wrenchingly funny if it weren't true. What is the President's justification for this Bargain Basement Sale? To plug all the leaky holes in his federal budget!

That's right, the latest brain-child of this Administration is to sell off our public lands in order to raise money. What do we need the money for?  Take your pick:

http://www.wilderness-sportsman.com/

here:

http://www.congress.org/...

and here:

http://ga4.org/...