Campaign
Calls for Protection and Restoration of Forests on Public Lands
Nationwide
Medford, Ore. —
Local community activists joined Greenpeace today for the launch of
its first U.S. Forest Rescue
Station, at the site of the proposed Kelsey Whiskey timber
sale, located in the
Klamath-Siskiyou region of southern Oregon. The mobile Station,
which is open to the public for workshops, hikes and other
educational activities, is a hub for Greenpeace’s campaign calling
for greater protection and restoration of forests on U.S. public
lands, and a moratorium on commercial logging.
“Greenpeace has come
to southern Oregon because this is a place of international
significance,” said Ginger Cassady, Greenpeace Forest Campaigner.
“Like the Amazon, forests like these on our public lands in the
U.S. must be protected and restored.”
The state of the art
Forest Rescue Station runs on solar power, and features two 24-foot
diameter domes and a series of smaller tents. Satellite
communications systems enable visitors to create and post weblogs
about their experiences at the site.
The massive Kelsey
Whiskey timber sale, slated for auction this summer, is located
within the Bureau of Land Management’s Medford District. The area
is representative of hundreds of proposed timber sales on public
lands across the U.S. being advanced by federal agencies despite
overwhelming public opposition. Even worse, the Bush administration
has stepped up its attacks on civil liberties, limiting citizen
participation in oversight of public lands.
“The Bush
administration has betrayed the American people by rolling back 30
years of environmental laws and cutting the public out of decision
making,” Cassady said. “It is time to put the ‘public’ back into
public lands, and hold the Bush administration accountable for
failing to protect our endangered forests.
“The majority of
Americans don’t want our centuries-old forests put on the chopping
block. With so little of our ancient forests left, why is the Bush
administration spending billions of taxpayer dollars to destroy our
public forest lands, instead of investing in high-skill,
family-wage jobs that would benefit communities and restore the
land?”
Greenpeace plans to open Forest Rescue Stations in endangered
forests on public lands across the country.
