Sign the Petition: Tell Obama to Protect our Forests
What if a logging company came for your home?
America’s national forests provide essential habitat for lynx, grizzlies and other wildlife… and clean water for millions of Americans.
A proposed rule by the U.S. Forest Service could help protect our water and wildlife — or it could open the door to special interest wrangling that would leave our wildlife out in the cold.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Forest Service proposed a new rule that would — for the first time — require that the viability of plants and invertebrates be protected on our national forests. Unfortunately, the rule would also make some protections for the wildlife and fresh, clean waters on our national forests become more discretionary and subject to local economic interests.
Protections for our water and wildlife shouldn’t be discretionary. They are simply too important to be left to the political whims of future administrations or local logging and development interests.
The forest rule isn’t a done deal yet, and we still have a chance to affect the outcome of the president’s deliberations. President Obama is expected to weigh in on the rule in the next few weeks, and he needs to hear from wildlife supporters like you right now.
Speak out for your national forests. Sign the petition now.
For three decades, the Forest Service has had the duty to maintain healthy, self-sustaining wildlife populations on nearly 200 million acres of national forests. Now the agency is proposing to replace this responsibility with a significantly more discretionary approach that would make wildlife conservation on our national forests far more susceptible to development pressure from local economic interests.
And while national forests are the single largest source of clean drinking water in the United States — serving up to 124 million Americans — protections for these vital sources of clean water are far from certain under the new rule.
Speak out for water and wildlife. Please sign our petition for your national forests today.
This could be one of the Obama Administration’s most significant environmental decisions. Please take action now and speak up for forest wildlife and the homes they need to survive.
Sincerely,Jamie Rappaport Clark
President Defenders of Wildlife |