Southern California National Forests in Peril; Lawsuit Seeks Protections for Wildlife and Roadless Areas

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 14, 2008 2:03 PM

CONTACT: Conservation Groups
David Hogan, Center for Biological Diversity, (619) 473-8217
Erin Tobin, Earthjustice, (510) 550-6725
 
Southern California National Forests in Peril;
Lawsuit Seeks Protections for Wildlife and Roadless Areas
 
SAN FRANCISCO – August 14 – Seven environmental groups filed a lawsuit today over the failure of the U.S. Forest Service to protect wildlife and roadless areas on four Southern California national forests – the Angeles, Cleveland, Los Padres, and San Bernardino. According to the lawsuit, overarching land-management plans prepared by the Forest Service in 2005 do little to protect nature from many harmful activities, including roads, off-road vehicles, power lines, oil and gas, logging, and grazing.

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Groundwater Supply: Is It Sustainable?

News Release

U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Geological Survey

For release:  August 14, 2008
Contact: William Alley, 619-225-6125, walley@usgs.gov
          Jennifer LaVista, 703-648-4432, jlavista@usgs.gov

Strategy to Assess the Nation’s Ground-Water Availability

Declines in ground-water levels have led to
concerns about the future availability of ground
water, which provides half the country’s drinking
water, and is essential to the vitality of
agriculture and industry, as well as to the
health of rivers, wetlands, and estuaries
throughout the country.

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From the Tropical Rainforests: 3 News Stories

Amazon Rainforest Threatened By New Wave of Oil and Gas Exploration
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/13/10973/
Rainforest Action Network Missive Urges Hundreds of Companies to Stop Using Palm Oil
http://www.commondreams.org/news2008/0813-03.htm
Dispute Raises Doubts Over Brazil’s Amazon Dams
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN1351739920080813

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TWS to Challenge Federal Judge’s Irresponsibility Toward Wyoming Roadless Areas

Intact Roadless Areas  & Climate Stability…another no-brainer.

ASW

Re: your Colorado forests e-mail

“The best people, like the best  wines, come from the hills.” — Edward Abbey
— On Wed, 8/13/08, Ceal Smith <slvwater@theriver.com> wrote:
From: Ceal Smith <slvwater@theriver.com>
Subject: FW: TWS statement on Roadless Rule injunction
To: “winter ross” <winterross@yahoo.com>
Date: Wednesday, August 13, 2008, 12:02 AM

This is not going to go unchallenged.
Ceal

Statement on Wyoming Court’s Injunction of Roadless Rule  The Wilderness Society will be challenging today¢s decision by a federal judge in  Wyoming to enjoin the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.  The decision by Judge Clarence Brimmer puts at risk nearly 60 million acres of pristine national forest lands that were protected from road building and logging by the Clinton Administration.  The Roadless Rule enjoyed the most public support in the history of federal rulemaking, with more than 95% of the 1.7 million comments favoring the strongest possible protection.  The  Wyoming court decision contradicts prior court decisions upholding the Roadless Rule, as well as the public¢s overwhelming support for roadless area protection.   We are confident that today¢s ruling will be reversed on appeal and that roadless areas will remain protected from environmental degradation.  The Wilderness Society will do all it can to ensure that roadless areas continue to be havens for wildlife, sources of pure drinking water, scenic backdrops for communities, and great places for people to recreate.   Contact:  Mike Anderson, Senior Resource Analyst, The Wilderness Society.  Office: 206-624-6430 x227.  Cell: 206-890-3529 _______________________________________________
 
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Ceal Smith, Acting DirectorSan Luis ValleyWater Protection CoalitionP.O. Box 351Alamosa, CO  81101(719) 256-5780ceal@slvwater.orgslvwater.org

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