From: [email protected] Subject: BISCUIT FIRE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT Land Rights Network American Land Rights Association PO Box 400 – Battle Ground, WA 98604 Phone: 360-687-3087 – Fax: 360-687-2973 – E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected] Web Address: http://www.landrights.org Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE – Washington, DC 20003 Phone: 202-210-2357 – Fax: 202-543-7126 – E-mail: [email protected] Fax or E-mail Deadline Tuesday, January 20th, 12:00 PM Postmark Deadline Tuesday, January 20, 2004 Fax back to (530) 493-1775. E-mail back to [email protected] ( Please note there is an underscore between r6 and biscuit) Dear Multiple-Use Ally: You have a chance to strike a blow for multiple-use and access in your area by sending the following questionnaire to the Forest Service IMMEDIATELY. A strong showing will push the Forest Service in your direction everywhere. If you receive this late, send it anyway. Please add your personal comments. The 500,000 acre Biscuit Fire in Oregon in 2002 was one of the largest forest fires in our nations recorded history. The USFS reports that 90% of the wood resources can be salvaged instead of being lost to rot and insects are as follows if it occurs in 2004. That number goes down to 50% in 2005. After that it will likely be uneconomic. The green groups are doing their best to gum up the works and prevent access to and salvage of these valuable raw materials. Local communities have been starved for wood resources for many years. Schools, roads and local communities stand to benefit greatly if the salvage operation is allowed to proceed. Below are a series of statements which you can agree with, disagree or offer no opinion. We AGREE with all the statements but you don’t have to. Write what you really think. The most valuable comments will be any personal remarks you add in the box provided. Public comments must be postmarked no later than January 20th to: Forest Supervisor Scott Conroy C/O ACT2 PO Box 377 Happy Camp CA 96039 Or by email to [email protected] (please note there is an underscore between r6 and biscuit) or by fax to 530-493-1775. The entire DEIS can be downloaded from the http://www.biscuitfire.com/ site. The fax and d-mail deadline is 12:00 PM January 20th. BISCUIT FIRE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT COMMENT QUESTIONAIRE – Siskiyou National Forest TO US Forest Service – Please review my responses to the following statements and consider this document to be my comments regarding the Biscuit Fire DEIS in the Siskiyou National Forest. I understand I can attach additional comments and pages to this testimony. I may also decide to rewrite some of the statements. Please consider a photocopy of this document as valid as the original. Of all of the alternatives provided in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement only Alternative 6 comes close to the idea of a restored forest. Local communities are supporting Alternative 6. However, Alternative 6 has several shortcomings. These key issues are included in the statements below. Please circle or otherwise mark your answer – You may write additional comments be each statement or in the comment section below. Your personal comments make this document more valuable. -----1. The US Forest Service should choose the option that maximizes the salvage amount of dead timber. AGREE-- DISAGREE-- NO OPINION -----2. I Support Option 6 in your DEIS for the Biscuit. AGREE-- DISAGREE-- NO OPINION -----3. The Forest Service should release the salvaged timber for harvest as soon as possible. Delay means disaster. AGREE-- DISAGREE-- NO OPINION -----4. Alternative 6 proposes 153,000 acres of replanting while Alternative 7 only replants 29,000 acres. I believe the option with the larger number of acres replanted should be chosen. AGREE-- DISAGREE-- NO OPINION -----5. I strongly encourage that the unsalvaged dead trees be fallen to reduce the risk of future fires. AGREE-- DISAGREE-- NO OPINION -----6. The USFS should eliminate the Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRAs). IRAs are used by the USFS to create defacto Wilderness. These IRAs are illegal and according Judge Brimmer of the 10th District Court the USFS has used IRA designations as a means to create defacto wilderness areas. Only Congress has the power to create wilderness areas. The Siskiyou National has 287,000 acres of the illegal IRAs, of which 180,000 are in the Biscuit Fire burn area! Please eliminate the Inventoried Roadless Areas. AGREE-- DISAGREE-- NO OPINION -----7. The Forest Service preferred Alternative 7 has nearly 15 miles of roads that are to be decommissioned. There should be no more roads decommissioned and the existing roads, especially those important for future fire fighting access, should be repaired. AGREE-- DISAGREE-- NO OPINION -----8. No more newly decommissioned roads should be used to create new Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRAs). AGREE-- DISAGREE-- NO OPINION -----9. The USFS should maximize the number miles of fire control lines "firebreaks" to help in the future control of fire and to support the salvage effort. These firebreak roads should be well placed to protect our communities. AGREE-- DISAGREE-- NO OPINION -----10. The USFS has placed too much emphasis on restoring the Siskiyou National Forest with oak savanna’s and meadows instead of replanting with commercial viable species such as Doug Fir, white fir, cedar, pines, and hemlock. There needs to be more focus on restoring the commercially viable timber lost in the Biscuit Fire. AGREE-- DISAGREE-- NO OPINION -----11. Instead of putting profit or concern of meeting cost break-even point for salvage and planting, the USFS should set a goal and a time limit of 45 years for Forest Restoration, stressing specifically the replacement of the billions of board feet of commercially viable timber lost in the Biscuit Fire! AGREE-- DISAGREE-- NO OPINION -----12. We need a well thought out fire plan. There are no fire plans in any of the alternatives in the fire impact statement. AGREE-- DISAGREE-- NO OPIINION -----13. In Alternative 7, the USFS preferred alternative, the USFS plans to have 91,000 acres of prescribed burns. This is not justifiable and may put the communities at more risk. In addition, I believe that the USFS is prescribing these large burn areas because the agency does not want to replant with commercially viable timber. AGREE-- DISAGREE-- NO OPINION In this space write your personal comments. Or you may add them to the appropriate place in the text. (Make this space as large as you need) To validate your comments, please fill in completely (PRINT) and be sure to sign. Signature__________________________________ Name _____________________________________ Address ___________________________________ Town _____________________________________ State ______________________________________ Zip________________________________________ Remember, the deadline for e-mail or fax is 12:00 PM, Tuesday, January 20th. Please forward this message as widely as possible. -- To unsubscribe from this mailing list; please visit http://governance.net and enter your email address.