Your Letters Made the Difference

Thanks in large part to your overwhelming opposition to the Bush administration's plan to sell off pieces of our National Forests, Agriculture Under Secretary Mark Rey admitted to a Post & Courier reporter that the plan is not likely to pass Congress this year. Unfortunately, Mr. Rey also said that if the bill does not pass, it will probably be repackaged and presented in what he hopes would be a more palatable form next year.

We say you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear. There are no good reasons to sell off parts of National Forests in an age where we are losing farms, forests, and wetlands at an ever increasing rate. Besides, there are already provisions in national law that allow individual National Forests to swap parcels of land that no longer fit the forest mission for parcels of land that help consolidate the forest.

Mr. Rey also indicated in his conversation with the Post & Courier that Governor Mark Sanford's petition to keep thousands of acres of South Carolina's public lands roadless would be granted. More than 10,000 South Carolina residents wrote the Bush and Clinton administrations to keep our roadless areas protected. (For the full Post & Courier article, click here.)

This is fantastic news for the Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests, and it can be directly attributed to the fact that you took the time to contact your elected officials. Thank you for your continued participation!

Sincerely,
Jane Lareau
janel@scccl.org

Coastal Conservation League
www.coastalconservationleague.org