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VWC Newsletter - January 2006

Governor Champions Roadless Areas             
 As one of his final acts as Governor, Mark Warner has submitted a petition for the protection of ALL the roadless areas originally identified under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.  These lands amount to some 387,000 acres within our two National Forests and represent the reservoir from which future wilderness proposals will be drawn.  Whatever one feels about the motives of the Bush administration in proposing the new substitute catch-22 rule, Virginia is now committed to the path of cooperation.  We must work to see that the promise of the Governor’s petition is realized.  One has to realize, of course, that the Bush administration has reserved the right to have the Secretary of Agriculture turn down applications such as that proposed by Governor Warner.

We have every reason to believe that Governor Tim Kaine will continue to pursue the enlightened policy pioneered by Governor Warner.  However, it is going to require commitment of time and resources on the part of the Commonwealth to work with the Forest Service on the environmental analysis of the proposal.  Please write to the Governor to express your support for the petition and to the Secretary of Natural Resources to urge him to proceed with the environmental analysis in conjunction with the Forest Service.

The Honorable Tim Kaine, Governor                                 
1111 East Broad St.                                                              
Richmond, VA 23219                                                           

The Honorable Preston Bryant
Secretary of Natural Resources
1111 East Broad St.
Richmond, VA 23219

 Boucher Announces Legislative Priorities              
The second session of the 109th Congress promises to be a busy one for Congressman Rick Boucher.  He has announced legislative initiatives spanning a wide variety of subjects from energy policy and transportation to agriculture and emergency preparedness.  Tucked in among these interests, we were pleased to find Wilderness Protection.  Thus Mr. Boucher is once again committing himself to working for the passage of H.R. 1975, his bill for the designation of 43,000 acres of new wilderness and about 12,000 acres of scenic areas in the Jefferson National Forest.  We should write - The Honorable Rick Boucher, House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 – to express our appreciation of his past work and to urge him to use every effort to bring about the passage of the bill.  It is going to take a major push to get the House Agriculture Committee to send the bill to the floor with a favorable report.

Progress in the Senate
Meanwhile on the Senate side, S. 942 is still in committee.  Senator Warner has had an acerbic exchange with the Forest Service over their initial response to the Virginia Ridge and Valley Bill of 2005.  Senator Warner is expecting a formal response from the Forest Service sometime this month.  It will doubtless serve as the opening position for some hard bargaining in Committee.  We expect Senator Warner to take a hard line in support of his chosen areas.

Salvage Logging - The Myth              
The conventional wisdom of the present administration is that salvage logging is good for the forest.  It is supposed to speed recovery after a fire and to reduce the likelihood of future fires by reducing woody debris on the forest floor.  For the first time these assumptions have been tested scientifically, and it appears that both are false.  Working on comparable plots burned by the infamous Biscuit Fire, scientists from Oregon State University showed that seedling regeneration was significantly greater on the unlogged plots and that the logged plots showed greater, not lesser, amounts of downed woody debris.  These results will not surprise those familiar with the early 20th century history of the southern Appalachains


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President: Jim Murray, 1601 Bentivar Farm Rd., Charlottesville, VA 22911 (434-973-6693)
Vice-Pres: Mark Miller, 62 Big Hill Rd., Lexington, VA 24450 (540-464-3110)
Treasurer: Juliana Simpson, 11 E. Monmouth, Winchester, VA 22601 (540-662-7043)
Secretary: Laura Neale, 423 Sheep Creek Lane, Fairfield, VA 24435 
Field organizer: Don Giecek, 19484 Running Cedar Ln., Maidens, VA 23229 (804-749-1992)

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© Virginia Wilderness Committee, 2013

Contact us:
Virginia Wilderness Committee
info@vawilderness.org
P.O. Box 1235
​
Lexington, VA 24450
(540) 464-1661