Ancient forests at risk in Mendocino! Help protect the Eel!

EPIC ACTION ALERT
Please Forward Widely!
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Ancient Forests Slated for Destruction in Mendocino NF
Logging Plan Threatens Eel River Basin
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The Mendocino National Forest is proposing to log a staggering 10 to 12 million
board feet of trees -- about 2,000 to 2,500 logging truckloads -- from a "Tier 1,"
key salmon watershed, with two formerly proposed timber sales reemerging as one.
The disastrous Cold Chimney/Ocean Timber Sale would remove more volume per acre than
nearly any other in the Mendocino since the Northwest Forest Plan was adopted in
1994. In other words, this sale includes many huge trees, and these will soon fall
if this sale is not stopped!

Comments are due July 2, 2004! Email and contact information follows.

The Environmental Assessment includes minimal information at best, but previous
documents obtained from the Forest Service indicate the timber sale is located
within northern spotted owl nesting and roosting habitat. Potential habitat for a
myriad of other imperiled species also exists in and surrounding the proposed
logging units, such as the bald eagle, peregrine falcon, northern goshawk, American
marten, and Pacific Fisher. There are also many rare plants that could be adversely
impacted, including two wild orchids: the clustered lady slipper orchid and mountain
lady slipper orchid.

The Cold Chimney/Ocean Timber Sale also threatens two critically important
tributaries of the Eel River watershed. Cold Creek and Butte Creek are essential to
the survival and recovery of the disappearing salmon runs in the Eel River -- a
watershed that once boasted some of the largest salmon runs in the world.

Rather than avoid or minimize impacts, the Forest Service is attempting to claim the
logging sale will have no effect on the fish and wildlife that depend on ancient
forests. For example, the Forest Service erroneously claims that "although there
are fish that are also threatened/endangered, they do not require old growth
vegetation."

Please help EPIC protect this incredible place and keep these ancient trees off the
chopping block!

Janet Flanagan
Grindstone Planning Officer
825 N.Humboldt Avenue
Willows, CA 95988
jflanagan [at] fs.fed.us

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