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Representative Sam Farr (D-CA) was the lead U.S. Representative on a letter signed by 81 members of the U.S. House of Representatives to President Obama asking the President to protect the Giant Sequoia National Monument (GSNM) by using his presidential power under the Aniquities Act to transfer the GSNM from the Forest Service to the National Park Service. The high number of 81 representatives who signed the letter show that there is wide support in Congress for this transfer.
To Read the Giant Sequoia Letter to President Obama
Click Here
Giant Sequoias, the Largest Organisms on Earth, Threatened by Forest Service Logging
Giant Sequoias are the largest trees on Earth, and amongst the oldest, the most senior living examples growing to ages approaching 2000 years old and over 350 feet tall. All the world's Sequoia forests are found in the Sierra Nevada mountains in eastern California.
Giant Sequoia National Monument, which contains 50% of the world's remaining Giant Sequoias, is being destroyed by the US Forest Service, which manages it. For example, in 2004-5, the Forest Service carried out fraudulent, illegal logging in the world famous "Trail of 100 Giants", the premier Sequoia tourist spot. In 2006 and 2007, the Forest Service testified in Congress falsely about that logging, trying to cover up the destruction and illegality.
Now, the Forest Service is carrying out more destructive, illegal logging and roadbuilding in other areas of the Giant Sequoia National Monument.
View slideshow on logging in GSNM
OP TREE INCINERATORS
 
Tree loggged in the Trail of 100 Giants, Giant Sequoia
National Monument, July 2005 Carl Ross in front of world's 5th largest tree
Photos Carl Ross - copyright Save America's Forests
Giant Sequoia National Monument and
the Act to Save America's Forests
To help protect Giant Sequoia National Monument, an additional section has been added to the Act to Save America's Forests that would transfer jurisdiction of the National Monument from the Forest Service to the Park Service.
The National Park Service is a reliable, conservation-oriented steward of hundreds of National Monuments and National Parks, including Sequoia National Park, whereas the Forest Service has been an ally of the timber industry and has facilitated the logging of tens of millions of acres national forests and other forests in its jurisdiction, including the Sequoia Forests of Giant Sequoia National Monument. The U.S. Forest Service has clearcut tens of millions of acres of virgin forests, permanently destroying the natural biodiversity on these lands, and pushing many species in the direction of extinction, most famously the spotted owl of the Ancient Forests of the Pacific Northwest.
Read the full text of the Act to Save America's Forests
Supreme Court Case: Summers v. Earth Island Institute - 10/8/08
A group of environmental organiztions attempted a standing to contest a series of Forest Service regulations, suggesting that the regulations were ripe for review under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Read more about this supreme court case
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Actions to Stop Logging
California based Sequoia ForestKeeper has filed lawsuits and sought injunctions against illegal logging nin the Monument. Despite some temporary injunctions, logging for timber has continued under the guise of "hazard removal" and "fuel reduction", and other fraudulent reasons.
Review documents about lawsuits and other issues pertinent to the sequoia forests
Read recent news about sequoias
[Left] Forest Service clearcut on a hillside in the Sequoia forest, leaving no trees standing. This clearcut took place over 20 years ago, and no new trees are growing. |
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