The National Forests Campaign
In 1996, a small group of Sierra Club volunteers sat down around a pile of maps on a kitchen table, and began to develop a conservation vision for Minnesota's beloved national forests. Since then, at least 8,000 volunteers have signed postcards supporting the Natural Forests and Restoration Plan (Alternative D).
In 2003, US Forest Service released draft plans that direct logging, wildlife habitat, and recreation on Chippewa and Superior National Forests for the next 100 years. Sierra Club mounted a major campaign to improve them. More than fifty volunteers and experts wrote a 200-plus page of comprehensive comment on the plans. A summary of the issues Sierra Club brought up is available, divided into the variety of issues addressed in the national forest plans.
In 2004 the Forest Service released the final version of the plans. Sierra Club found that the plans for Superior National Forest had not improved or even gotten worse, in areas such as:
- the amount of forest the US Forest Service will clearcut
- the amount of forest that will be restored
- whether roadless areas around the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness will be protected from road-building and logging
- how much food & shelter Minnesota's wildlife will find in the forest.
- Read our initial analysis of the final plans.
Please look at the forest plan issues at left, and get involved! Our campaign is directed by volunteers like you. Our committee meets on the first Wednesday of every month, at 7pm at the Sierra Club office, 2327 E Franklin Av. in Minneapolis. Write or call (612-659-9124) for more information.