WILDFIRE HYSTERIA & "FOREST BIOMASS"
GREENWASH
  Eco Advocates NW starting in 2006 launched an information campaign consisting of educational panels and presentations, op-eds and letters to the editor, and public events to debunk the following three wildfire-related myths of the logging industry, disingenuous politicians and beholden government agencies: Wildfire myth # 1: "Wildfire is bad!"In reality: Fire is a rejuvenating influence in our western forests and must be returned to the landscape. Wildfire myth # 2: "We must thin native forests to limit risk of wildfire!"In reality: Science demonstrates that nearly all forms of logging can harm ecosystems and increase the risk of fire. Wildfire myth #3: "Forest biomass is a green, renewable energy source!"Debunking Myths about Forest Carbon and Global Warming. In reality: Forests provide clean air, pure drinking water, fertile topsoil, carbon storage and a livable climate and must not be sacrificed to feed our nation's energy overconsumption.
See what whole tree forest biomass extraction looks and hears like in your National Forests in 2010:
~ In 2007 Eco Advocates NW offered "Firesafe" home demonstrations to model the best way to prevent a home from burning in a wildfire: protecting 35-200 feet around the home (not logging fire-resistant backcountry native forests). If you live in a forest-edge community in Lane County and would like to offer your home for a "Firewise" demonstration, please contact us! ~ In 2007-2008, Eco Advocates NW challenged the fraudulent "Oakridge Thinning and Fuels Reduction Project," which would log thousands of acres of native temperate rainforest on public lands in the Willamette National Forest outside of Oakridge, Oregon under the guise of "community protection." We involved local foresters, scientists, environmental groups and concerned citizens to investigate and oppose the project, attended Forest Service field trips, ground-truthed project units, voiced concerns at procedural meetings, and led public hikes. ~ Since 2006, we have educated members of Congress (particularly Sen. Wyden and Rep. DeFazio), Oregon State legislators, the Governors of Oregon, the general public, and even some within the forest conservation community on the dangers of allowing -- and promoting -- forest biomass extraction on public lands for use as a “green” renewable energy source. Eco Advocates NW maintains that the best solution to climate change is energy conservation, the widespread use of new heat pump technologies, and the development of the most renewable alternative energies ( solar and wind) -- not to allow forests to be further exploited as a feeding trough for the forest biomass energy, timber, or utility industries.
Click here to read our anti-biomass coalition's letter to the US Congress opposing biomass subsidies in the American Power Act. ~ In 2007 and 2008 at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference, we presented a slideshow (attachment below for powerpoint presentation) on the negative consequences of "fuels reduction" in native forests to thousands of species in the Pacific Northwest (birds, butterflies, fungi, and amphibians). ~ In 2007, Eco Advocates NW lobbied for the amendments to Oregon State legislation -- The Renewable Portfolio Standard -- that would legally define forest biomass to ensure genuine environmental safeguards and provide citizen oversight to the logging industry's latest attempt to liquidate the region's last native forests. ~ Eco Advocates NW has also been in close communication with Lane County Commissioners, as well as other local interests who are considering the feasibility of forest biomass extraction for bioethanol production in Lane County. Eco Advocates NW continues to inform them how forest biomass extraction, while possibly feasible on the small scale, can be a pandora's box of future forest destruction best left unopened. |