And so it seems the United States has declared yet another war. On top of the war on terrorism, the war on drugs, and that oh-so-secret war on the poor, the United States has begun to wage a war against Mother Nature herself.

Now I realize that this is a rather bold statement to make; I mean war is not something one just casually stirs up, unless of course you are the Bush Administration; then you just declare war whenever you get bored. However I believe I have some pretty compelling evidence to back up my assertion. So here goes:

#1 Reduced funding for renewable energy sources by 50 percent.

#2 Cut funding by 28 percent for research into cleaner, more efficient cars and trucks.

#3 OK’d Interior Department appointee Gale Norton to send out letters to state officials soliciting suggestions for opening up national lands for oil and gas drilling, coal mining, and foresting.

#4 Abandoned campaign pledge to invest $100 million for rain-forest conservation.

#5 Suspended rules that would require hardrock miners to clean up sites on Western Public Lands.

And the list goes on and on and on. . .

However another point to make on Bush’s obvious attempt to destroy the Earth’s fragile balance are his directives to undermine national forest protections.

First off he forced out Forest Service Chief, Mike Dombeck, and appointed a timber industry lobbyist, Mark Rey. He’s also attempting to undermine the National Forest Roadless Area Conversation Rule, which protected 58 million additional acres of national forest from most logging and road construction.

Now every national forest is affected by these measures including our own, the Allegheny National Forest (two hours northeast of here), which already happens to be the most endangered forest in all of the United States, according to a study by the National Forest Protection Alliance.

The East Side Timber Sale and the massive oil and gas developments in Salmon Creek are only two of the examples why the ANF has been given the dubious honor of being the most endangered forest.

With 9,000 acres of forest being logged, the East Side timber sale is the largest timber sale east of the Mississippi. Not only is it a huge timber sale; it also calls for logging within the old-growth area Bluejay Creek.

Now that’s bad because there are so few old-growth areas left in any forest, especially the ANF; plus these areas are just so beautiful.

Salmon Creek, a popular fishing spot, has fallen victim to the notorious Pennsylvania General Electric (PAGE), which has already drilled nearly 500 oil and gas wells disturbing over 750 acres of land in this area. Whenever these wells exceed over 5 acres in size, oil and gas corporations are supposed to obtain storm water permits; however PAGE has only eight of those.

And here’s some bad news for all you fishers out there: it seems some of PAGE’s oil wells have begun to leak into the creek. Unless oil makes for tasty fish, I’m thinking that’s bad.

I didn’t go into detail about all the issues involved with the ANF, mostly because I would have had to write a book, but also because I think it’s more important to understand why it’s important to care about our forests than to have all the facts.

I have an economic case for saving our forests and a scientific case, but I have fact sheets and reports that worded it much better than I ever could. More important though, is that these are our very last best places. They’re places where we can get away from the chaos of our lives. They’re places where we can be at peace. They’re places of absolute beauty, tranquility, spirituality. . . .They’re places where we can find our true inner selves.

I can think of no other place for that, although perhaps that is just me. But the way we treat Mother Nature is an indication of how we treat one another. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi: "What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and one another." If we cannot learn to respect and love that which sustains our very race, than how can we ever learn to love and respect one another?

If anyone is interested in helping out with an Allegheny Defense Project outreach committee please contact me, Becky, at thingrnline-@riseup.net or Karen Wood-Campbell at k.wc@verizon.net.

Thanks!!!!