Your help is needed to block an unnecessary bill in Congress that would allow for logging, burning, and roads through giant sequoia groves in designated Wildernesses in California and could introduce human meddling in Wilderness nationwide.
The deceptively-named "Save Our Sequoias Act" (S. 4103) would do immense and unnecessary damage to the wild groves of giant sequoias, including in Wilderness. Giant sequoia groves need high-severity fires, so a bill that villainizes this natural process and intervenes with management will only damage the outlook for future sequoia generations. Case in point: Wilderness Watch staff visited these sequoia groves last summer and found dead seedlings planted by the government, but thriving seedlings in Wilderness where managers left the areas alone. Beyond the sequoia groves, this bill could threaten the rest of the Wilderness System. The sneak attack on Wilderness comes from the House Natural Resources Committee, whose report on the “Save Our Sequoias Act” noted that it thought the Wilderness Act allows any kind of action that the Save Our Sequoias Act allows. This claim is not only a perverse interpretation, but endangers our entire Wilderness System with unfettered management because this language could influence how courts interpret the Wilderness Act going forward.
S. 4103 would allow the federal government to log within giant sequoia groves, including cutting down sequoias even in Wilderness. This would be a dramatic departure from the untrammeled and unmanipulated areas called for by the Wilderness Act. Worse yet, all of this could be “categorically excluded” from the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act, one of our bedrock environmental laws.
Since the U.S. House passed the so-called "Save Our Sequoias Act" in March, if the Senate passes S. 4103, it would become the law of the land with Trump’s signature.
We can’t let giant sequoia groves in Wilderness essentially be treated like tree farms! Please call your two senators at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to oppose the "Save Our Sequoias Act" (S. 4103).
Also, click here to send your senators an email urging them to oppose S. 4103. |
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Help us protect Wilderness around the country. A generous member has pledged to DOUBLE all first-time donations up to $30,000 this year. |
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