Protect 24 million acres of Northern Rockies Wildlands

To preserve the biological integrity of the Northern Rockies ecosystem, NREPA designates as wilderness nearly 7 million acres in Montana, 9.5 million acres in Idaho, 5 million acres in Wyoming, 750,000 acres in eastern Oregon, and 500,000 acres in eastern Washington.  Included in this total are over 3 million acres of backcountry wilderness in Yellowstone, Glacier and Grand Teton National Parks.

Northern Rockies wildlands are the only place in the lower 48 states where all native species and wildlife remain.  These are OUR National Forest wildlands, belonging to all Americans.  By officially designating these remaining roadless areas as wilderness, NREPA provides the strongest protection that the federal government can confer on public wildlands and dependent species.

NREPA establishes a pilot wildland recovery system. Over 6,000 miles of damaging or unused logging roads will be restored to roadless conditions, providing employment for over 2,000 workers while saving tax-dollars from subsidized development of National Forests.

NREPA helps combat global warming by protecting the carbon sink these wildland forests provide.

University of Utah's Museum of History Research Curator William Newmark said, "We are in the midst of the world's sixth major extinction event.  Passage of ecosystem protection bills like NREPA is one of the most effective ways of reducing species loss in western North America."

Carole King, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee and a 32-year resident of Idaho, said, "NREPA, the opposite of a top-down bill, was drafted by local residents of the Northern Rockies bioregion, including wildlife biologists, economists, scientists, business owners, and individuals who recognized the need for, and the benefits of, protecting the Northern Rockies ecosystem."

King continued, "NREPA saves money, creates jobs - let me say that again; CREATES JOBS!! - and protects an ecosystem that includes headwaters of the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Hudson Bay.  Without the core habitat and biological corridors designated by NREPA, species such as grizzly bears and wolves will be lost.

"Private land is NOT affected by NREPA; grazing and existing mining claims are NOT changed; and environmentally-sustainable logging outside roadless areas will continue," King concluded.

Michael Garrity, Executive Director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and a professional economist, said, "The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act will create high-paying jobs by recovering old logging roads and clearcuts; save taxpayers money; and protect the environment."

Garrity said, "NREPA will save taxpayers $245 million over a ten-year period by managing these public lands as wilderness.  Additionally, more than 2,300 jobs will be created through NREPA provisions that restore wildlife habitats on public land to their natural states.

"NREPA also helps combat global warming by protecting the carbon sink that these forests provide," Garrity said.  "The Forest Service's own studies show the more forests we protect, the more carbon our National Forests will absorb."

Garrity noted that, during the Clinton administration, the overwhelming majority of Americans commenting on the Forest Service's "Roadless Rule" supported protecting ALL remaining roadless areas over 5,000 acres.  "NREPA, conceived, written, and supported by countless residents here in the Northern Rockies, mirrors that public support."

The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act:

Connects natural, biological corridors, ensuring the continued existence of native plants and animals and mitigating the effects of global warming;

Restores public lands severely damaged from roads built into critical wildlife habitat, creating more than 2,300 jobs and leading to a more sustainable economic base in the region;

Retains irrigation water in undeveloped roadless wildlands for ranchers and farmers downstream until it is most needed; and

Eliminates taxpayer-subsidized logging roads and other development in National Forest roadless wildlands, saving taxpayers $245 million over a 10-year period.

TAKE ACTION:

1.  Sign this petition to the House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee's Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands.

2.  Write your Congressional representative a note supporting NREPA at:  www.house.gov/writerep/ .

3.  Send a pro-NREPA e-mail to the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands at:  domenick.carroll@mail.house.gov .

4.  Contact your conservation and outdoors organizations.  Ask them to sign on as NREPA supporters by e-mailing:  awr@wildrockiesalliance.org .  

5.  Join the Alliance for the Wild Rockies at:  http://www.wildrockiesalliance.org/join/index.html .

NEED FURTHER INFORMATION?

Further details about the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA) can be found at:
http://www.wildrockiesalliance.org/issues/nrepa/index.html.
http://www.friendsoftheclearwater.org/node/280 .

For maps of all Wild Rockies roadless wildlands to be protected as designated wilderness, refer to:  http://www.wildrockiesalliance.org/issues/nrepa/mapIndex.shtml .

The bill itself, H.R. 980, can be found at:  http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:h.r.00980: .

Member groups of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies who support NREPA can be found at:  http://www.wildrockiesalliance.org/about/membergroups.html .

Contact:  Michael Garrity, Executive Director, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, 406-459-5936; or
Gary Macfarlane, President, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, 208-882-9755

###

To preserve the biological integrity of the Northern Rockies ecosystem, NREPA designates as wilderness nearly 7 million acres in Montana, 9.5 million acres in Idaho, 5 million acres in Wyoming, 750,000 acres in eastern Oregon, and 500,000 acres in eastern Washington.  Included in this total are over 3 million acres of backcountry wilderness in Yellowstone, Glacier and Grand Teton National Parks.

Northern Rockies wildlands are the only place in the lower 48 states where all native species and wildlife remain.  These are OUR National Forest wildlands, belonging to all Americans.  By officially designating these remaining roadless areas as wilderness, NREPA provides the strongest protection that the federal government can confer on public wildlands and dependent species.

NREPA establishes a pilot wildland recovery system. Over 6,000 miles of damaging or unused logging roads will be restored to roadless conditions, providing employment for over 2,000 workers while saving tax-dollars from subsidized development of National Forests.

NREPA helps combat global warming by protecting the carbon sink these wildland forests provide.

University of Utah's Museum of History Research Curator William Newmark said, "We are in the midst of the world's sixth major extinction event.  Passage of ecosystem protection bills like NREPA is one of the most effective ways of reducing species loss in western North America."

Carole King, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee and a 32-year resident of Idaho, said, "NREPA, the opposite of a top-down bill, was drafted by local residents of the Northern Rockies bioregion, including wildlife biologists, economists, scientists, business owners, and individuals who recognized the need for, and the benefits of, protecting the Northern Rockies ecosystem."

King continued, "NREPA saves money, creates jobs - let me say that again; CREATES JOBS!! - and protects an ecosystem that includes headwaters of the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Hudson Bay.  Without the core habitat and biological corridors designated by NREPA, species such as grizzly bears and wolves will be lost.

"Private land is NOT affected by NREPA; grazing and existing mining claims are NOT changed; and environmentally-sustainable logging outside roadless areas will continue," King concluded.

Michael Garrity, Executive Director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and a professional economist, said, "The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act will create high-paying jobs by recovering old logging roads and clearcuts; save taxpayers money; and protect the environment."

Garrity said, "NREPA will save taxpayers $245 million over a ten-year period by managing these public lands as wilderness.  Additionally, more than 2,300 jobs will be created through NREPA provisions that restore wildlife habitats on public land to their natural states.

"NREPA also helps combat global warming by protecting the carbon sink that these forests provide," Garrity said.  "The Forest Service's own studies show the more forests we protect, the more carbon our National Forests will absorb."

Garrity noted that, during the Clinton administration, the overwhelming majority of Americans commenting on the Forest Service's "Roadless Rule" supported protecting ALL remaining roadless areas over 5,000 acres.  "NREPA, conceived, written, and supported by countless residents here in the Northern Rockies, mirrors that public support."

The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act:

Connects natural, biological corridors, ensuring the continued existence of native plants and animals and mitigating the effects of global warming;

Restores public lands severely damaged from roads built into critical wildlife habitat, creating more than 2,300 jobs and leading to a more sustainable economic base in the region;

Retains irrigation water in undeveloped roadless wildlands for ranchers and farmers downstream until it is most needed; and

Eliminates taxpayer-subsidized logging roads and other development in National Forest roadless wildlands, saving taxpayers $245 million over a 10-year period.

TAKE ACTION:

1.  Sign this petition to the House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee's Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands.

2.  Write your Congressional representative a note supporting NREPA at:  www.house.gov/writerep/ .

3.  Send a pro-NREPA e-mail to the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands at:  domenick.carroll@mail.house.gov .

4.  Contact your conservation and outdoors organizations.  Ask them to sign on as NREPA supporters by e-mailing:  awr@wildrockiesalliance.org .  

5.  Join the Alliance for the Wild Rockies at:  http://www.wildrockiesalliance.org/join/index.html .

NEED FURTHER INFORMATION?

Further details about the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA) can be found at:
http://www.wildrockiesalliance.org/issues/nrepa/index.html.
http://www.friendsoftheclearwater.org/node/280 .

For maps of all Wild Rockies roadless wildlands to be protected as designated wilderness, refer to:  http://www.wildrockiesalliance.org/issues/nrepa/mapIndex.shtml .

The bill itself, H.R. 980, can be found at:  http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:h.r.00980: .

Member groups of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies who support NREPA can be found at:  http://www.wildrockiesalliance.org/about/membergroups.html .

Contact:  Michael Garrity, Executive Director, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, 406-459-5936; or
Gary Macfarlane, President, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, 208-882-9755

###

To preserve the biological integrity of the Northern Rockies ecosystem, NREPA designates as wilderness nearly 7 million acres in Montana, 9.5 million acres in Idaho, 5 million acres in Wyoming, 750,000 acres in eastern Oregon, and 500,000 acres in eastern Washington.  Included in this total are over 3 million acres of backcountry wilderness in Yellowstone, Glacier and Grand Teton National Parks.

Northern Rockies wildlands are the only place in the lower 48 states where all native species and wildlife remain.  These are OUR National Forest wildlands, belonging to all Americans.  By officially designating these remaining roadless areas as wilderness, NREPA provides the strongest protection that the federal government can confer on public wildlands and dependent species.

Thank you for your consideration.