Bruce Babbit, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, is currently considering whether or not to allow the Doe Run Mining Company to conduct exploratory Drilling for lead just north of the Eleven point River on Forest Service lands. NO DECISION HAS BEEN MADE - CONTRARY TO HEADLINES.
Last year theForest Service received over 4,000 letters!! Now, Secretary Babbit needs to hear from Missourians that NO mining activities - including exploration - should EVER be allowed in the watersheds of the Current, Jacks Fork, and Eleven Point Rivers. This without a doubt the finest area in the Midwest and it should be protected for our generation, for our children and for the ages.
Drilling 200 holes in the recharge area of our largest springs that feed our most valued rivers simply cannot be allowed! An editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch put it succintly: Memo to Doe Run: No. Not here. Not Now. Not ever."
This simple message must be sent to Secretary Babbit:
MINING WOULD DESTROY THE VALUES OF THIS AREA AND IMPACT HEAVILY ON THE OZARK NATIONAL SCENIC RIVERWAYS - ALLOW NO MINING ACTIVITIES!!
Using the above information, please send a letter to:
Mr. Bruce Babbit
Secretary of the Interior
ATTN: John Leshy
1894 C St. NW
Washington,DC 20240
It would be helpful if a copy of your letter could be sent to:
Ozark Chapter of the Sierra Club
914 N. College, Suite 1
Columbia, MO 65201
PLEASE ACT NOW -- TIME IS RUNNING OUT FOR OUR OZARK RIVERS!!
Audubon Society members in Missouri are entering the Internet Age in a big way! There are now six World Wide Web sites maintained by Audubon organizations plus an e-mail service, the Missouri Bird Alert. This part of a growing national trend. Of the over 500 chapters of the National Audubon Society, nearly 200 chapters now have Web sites. To find Web sites of Audubon chapters go to the NAS home page http://www.audubon.org/ and click on "Chapters". The NAS itself has a large and growing Web site which is an essential tool for chapter leaders and members.
One of the oldest Web sites in Missouri is the Audubon Society of Missouri's (ASM) site which can be found at http://mobirds.mig.missouri.edu/ . This site has many features of interest to the birding community in Missouri including: announcements of upcoming meetings and workshops, tips on identifying birds, decisions of the Missouri Bird Records Committee, links to bird alert sites, and information on Missouri Birdfinding Guides.
One of the ASM's most popular Internet services is the Missouri Bird Alert. This e-mail bird list service allows birders from all over Missouri (plus many from Kansas) to keep each other informed about sightings of unusual birds and seasonal migrations. Birders will find lots of lively conversation on this e-mail list. You can subscribe to this free service by going to the ASM home page and clicking on "ASM e-mail birdlist service - MOBIRDS-L".
Another statewide Web site is maintained by the Missouri Audubon Council but when the state Audubon office (to be known as "Audubon Missouri") is established this will become it's Web site. This site can be found at: http://www.audubon.org/chapter/mo/mo/ and it features information on the Council and its progress towards establishing a state office, a legislative update, a news page, and a book review page. A special new page has also been created to keep Missourians informed on the wood chip mill issue and its impacts on Missouri's forests. This Web site also includes an extensive page of links on birds, wildlife, environmental information, and links for kids and teachers. All Audubon members are encouraged to submit suggestions for this site.
Four local chapters also have Web sites:
These chapter sites feature information on upcoming field trips, events and meetings, local birding resources, chapter leaders, environmental issues, and links to Web sites of interest.
Missouri birders are also using one of the National Audubon Society's most impressive Internet services, BirdSource, which is a cooperative effort with the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. BirdSource is an interactive partnership between scientists and citizens which allows citizens to "bird with a purpose". Together we track birds and contribute our findings online to define bird ranges, populations, migration pathways, and habitat needs. You can participate in Warbler Watch and the winter bird surveys such the Christmas Bird Count, the Winter Finch Survey and Project FeederWatch. You can also access the North American Breeding Bird Survey, and the WatchList of Birds at Risk. To access BirdSource go to the NAS home page at http://www.audubon.org/ and click on "BirdSource".
-- Dave Bedan
Return to contentsLed by Harvard University Ecologist Edward O. Wilson - an Alabama Native - more than 100 scientists from across the South warned the Clinton Administration this week that explosive logging growth in their region threatens to destroy some of the richest temperate rainforests on Earth, replacing them with a biological wasteland of monocrop timber plantations.
The problem, say the scientists, is accelerating growth of highly automated 'chip mills' and the mechanized logging that helps each on devour as much as 10,000 acres of forests a year. In just a decade, the number of mills in the Southeast has more than tripled to at least 140 facilities. Mostly supplying the pulp and paper industry, they consumed more than a million acres in 1996.
From East Texas to Georgia, up through the Carolinas and down into North Florida, chip mills consumed more than a million acres of woodland in 1996. Southern Virginia, Tennessee and Missouri may soon join the list of affected states as loggers retreat from the dwindling timber stands of the Pacific Northwest.
"We are concerned by the fact that chip mills are rapidly proliferating in this biologically rich region promoting increased unsustainable logging and increasing the pressure on already threatened ecosystems" said the scientists in a letter to EPA Administrator Carol Browner and Fish & Wildlife Director Jamie Clark.
The scientists asked the agencies to oppose all chip mill permits until a detailed study is made of the their cumulative impacts throughout the region - not only from the mills, but the logging required to run them. None of the mills now operating in the region has been evaluated for their off-site environmental impacts.
"As a native Alabamian, I am particularly concerned that these natural areas be recognized for their full value and protected from these industrial ," said Wilson, who helped organize the effort.
Southeastern forests comprise a rich biological treasure recently singled out by World Wildlife Fund for its national and international significance. The coniferous forests of the Southeast together with the mixed deciduous and hardwoods of Central Appalachia host a remarkable array of native plants and animals, many already at risk.
The mounting damage to these forests is evident throughout the region. The Southeast supplies almost 70% of the pulpwood consumed in the U.S. and much of the global market as well. (While chip exports are often blamed for the problem, they constitute just 10 percent of total output.) The boom will intensify in step with projected growth in demand for forest products. According the North Carolina State College of Forest Resources, the South will supply 90% of new demand for softwoods, plus 70 percent of the hardwood increase.
Experts say the resulting, cumulative threats posed by chip mills include increased cutting both of new species and smaller sizes of traditional hardwoods; loss of mature trees; damage to terrestrial and aquatic species; harm to migratory birds; and sharp reductions in water quality.
While mounting losses are evident throughout the region, the chip mills' swift proliferation has left officials unable to quantify the damage. The latest information on many areas predates the chip mill expansion seen in recent years, because the U.S. Forest Service conducts its growth-to-removal inventories on five and ten year cycles. The Congressional Research Service recently attempted an assessment of its own but concluded last month that "definitive data are not available."
The environment is not the chip mills' only victim. In Chipping Forests & Jobs, a recent report on the economic and environmental effects of the industry on small, rural communities of the Southeast, researchers from the Dogwood Alliance and the Native Forest Network found that large-scale logging to supply the chip mills hurts not only hunting, fishing, and other recreational trade, but also mainstay Southern industries like lumber and furniture making.
These traditionally regional businesses are now competing for trees with the deep pockets of the international pulp and paper industry. Overcutting and poor forest management afterwards may permanently deprive them of the tall, straight, mature trees they need to survive.
Although they involve a sizable investment, automation means chip mills can't make up for the jobs loss they cause. According to the report, $1 million invested in a modern pulp mill creates about one job; the same investment in a sawmill produces 10 jobs, and causes less damage to the forest. $1 million invested in a wood furniture factory goes even further, creating about 40 jobs.
The scientists say a cumulative regional assessment is an essential tool for understanding the chip mills' full environmental impact. In the rare cases where they have been done, such assessments become a valuable tool for communities trying to protect themselves form the mills. But without coordinated action, such shelter can be short lived.
In May, 1997, the EPA's Southeast office opposed a Kentucky chip mill permit, citing potential problems with the associated timber cutting. Last October, the EPA's Missouri office temporarily stopped an operating permit for a chip mill based on the potential water quality damage caused by the associated timber cutting.
In 1993, federal officials rejected permit applications for three Tennessee chip mills after a cumulative, interagency assessment found the resulting off-site logging posed severe threats to wildlife, water quality and wetlands over a wide area. The decision - which had support from state lumber and tourism interests - sharply curtailed chip mill development in Tennessee. Since then, however, at least 13 log-loading facilities have been built along the Tennessee River to ship trees to off chip mills in neighboring states.
"These groups are fighting to protect a special way of life based on the region's unique environment," says Cielo Sand of the Dogwood Alliance, which represents 50 local groups. "Unfortunately the industrial foresters are taking advantage of another regional tradition - weak official protection for natural resources."
Advocates are reinforcing the 100 scientists' call for an interagency study of Southeast forest resources involving both state and federal officials. They say the Fish & Wildlife Service and EPA have been somewhat responsive at the regional level, but that higher level commitment is needed. They are also looking to Members of Congress like John Lewis (D-GA), Harold Ford, Jr. (D-TN), and Vic Snyder (D-AR) for continued support for the study.
"Only one state-level study has ever even tried to assess the cumulative consequences of chip mills on the forests, waterways and species of this region," Sand says. "Those results were startling enough. Nobody has ever combined that work with a study of the economic impacts on manufacturing, tourism, and related businesses."
The Southeast Forest Project and the Dogwood Alliance can provide expert contacts throughout the region, including scientists, Congressional spokespeople, small business owners, community leaders and local environmentalists, along with photo documentation and other information.
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