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Ozark Fly Fishers, as well as FFF, TU, etc., has previously endorsed the Sportsman's Alliance for Alaska in its attempts to protect the Tongass National Forest. Please take a few minutes to read this request and take appropriate action. As of the intelligence we have today, we are anticipating a vote in the House on or around June 14th. From: Scott Hed [mailto:scott@sportsmansalliance4ak.org] Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2007 10:51 AM To: scott@sportsmansalliance4ak.org Subject: ACTION ALERT: Tongass NF Vote Coming Soon! Greetings from the Sportsman's Alliance for Alaska! In coming days, the US House of Representatives will cast a vote that will have the ability to impact the remaining wild watersheds of the Tongass National Forest and set the course for future sustainable management of the Tongass. Outdoor recreation and sustainable timber harvest can co-exist if you take action today! America's hunters and anglers have cherished wild Alaskan places as a birthright since the days of Theodore Roosevelt and Jack London. Future generations will continue to do so and you have the opportunity to help make sure that is the case. The Tongass National Forest is at a crossroads. After fifty years of management trade offs we have reached a point where world-class recreation cannot co-exist with timber harvest in the forest's remaining unprotected old-growth areas. Hunters and anglers recognize that national forests have multiple uses, including timber harvest by appropriate methods in appropriate areas. Leaving the forest wild costs taxpayers nothing while supporting thousands of jobs tied to guiding, hunting, fishing, wildlife viewing and boating. By contrast, American taxpayers have lost an average of $40 million annually over the past 25 years (a total of $1 billion!) subsidizing the timber industry in the largest remaining temperate rainforest on earth. These are your lands and your hard-earned dollars. The Tongass, its fish and game resources, and America's budget would all be better served if timber harvest were kept to areas already accessible from the existing 5,000+ miles of roads on the Tongass. Management practices could move from logging in the remaining old-growth areas (which provide the best fish and game habitat) and building new roads to reach those areas, to focusing on enhancement and harvest of 2nd growth stands. This would provide benefits to species like deer at the same time as increasing the viability of future timber harvest from those stands. Other work could involve stream restoration projects as well as road maintenance and repair/replacement of culverts which prevent fish passage. This management direction would be a win for fish and wildlife, outdoor recreation, taxpayer dollars, and a sustainable timber industry for the region. It's flat wrong for taxpayers to pay for the destruction of remaining unprotected stands of Tongass old growth forest at a loss to the U.S. Treasury. Sportsmen and women have the most to lose from fiscally irresponsible timber road subsidies. We visit the Tongass in growing numbers annually because much of it remains wild, with abundant fish and wildlife including bears, salmon, moose and waterfowl. Contact your Representative and tell him/her that you're a sportsperson who cares about the Tongass. Ask him/her to SUPPORT the Andrews/Chabot Amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill. The amendment won't take any money from the Forest Service, but it will require them to spend it in ways other than building new roads in the Tongass. The bill has broad bi-partisan support and has passed by wide margins twice in the past three years in the House of Representatives. With your help, it'll pass again this year -- by a landslide! To find contact information for your U.S. Representative, visit http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt and enter your ZIP code. To view an advertisement supporting this amendment that will run soon in Congress Daily, sponsored by the Sportsman's Alliance for Alaska and Wildlife Forever, visit www.sportsmansalliance4ak.org. Thanks for your continued support for Alaska's lands and the opportunities for sportspersons to enjoy them. Scott Hed Outreach Director Sportsman's Alliance for Alaska (605) 336-6738 office
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