One of the first bills to pass the House in the 119th Congress was the "Fix Our Forests Act." This bill, which is named to sound like a good thing, makes it easier for corporate polluters to log forests on public land by bypassing environmental reviews and public input. Now this bill is making its way through the Senate.
Meanwhile, on March 1st, Trump signed an Executive Order to "Increase Domestic Timber Production." This EO opens the door for our forests to be used for nothing more than corporate gain. In the long run, this will worsen the effects of climate change, while also destroying critical wildlife habitat. It will also increase fire risk by logging our most fire resilient trees: mature and old growth.
Send a message to your Senators telling them to stand up for our forests by opposing harmful legislation and pushing back against Trump's logging order.
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Note: this action alert will deliver your comment directly to your Senators. You can edit the message directly in the message box or add a personal comment above the message box. We strongly encourage making your comment your own! Feel free to use the below prompts and talking points (you might want to draft your comment somewhere else and come back to this page to submit when you're ready – note that there is a character limit of 4,000 characters).
Remember: make sure to include some information about YOU ("As a hiker…" "As a climate scientist…" "As a grandparent…" "As a wildlife ecologist…" "As a nurse…")
PROMPTS:
- Do you live near forests or visit forested areas regularly?
- Why is forest conservation important to you? (Do you live near a national forest? Are you interested in protecting old-growth trees for future generations? Are you a birder or a hiker that enjoys getting out in nature? Are you a climate scientist that understands the importance of forests for mitigating climate change?)
TALKING POINTS:
- Once an old-growth tree is cut and sold, it will take longer than most human lifetimes to replace it.
- Old-growth and mature trees and forests provide homes for wildlife, filter drinking water, provide recreational opportunities and absorb and store carbon, helping us to fight climate change.
- Without mature and old-growth trees and forests, we lose the opportunity to hike among giant trees, to share the earth with the wildlife that live in their branches and among their roots.
- Our lives will be less rich and our planet will be less liveable without our oldest forests.
- Increasing timber production without the necessary environmental reviews will impact the Endangered Species Act and remove essential protections for species that are threatened from ever-changing climate conditions and dwindling habitat.
- Unhindered thinning of forests could make wildfires worse by thinning areas that are natural wildfire buffers, like mature and old-growth trees.
- The Fix Our Forests Act includes cuts to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) which would make it easier to thin forests on public land.
- The Fix Our Forests Act would make it harder for people to have their voices heard by imposing a severely short 120-day judicial review window on forest projects, which places an undue burden on communities with limited resources, such as frontline communities and Tribes.