Proposed Wilderness, Wild & Scenic River Threatened
Forest Service Proposing New Logging Road Just To Serve SPI

Help Save the Underwood Roadless Area!
The Six Rivers National Forest, based in Eureka, has proposed to allow Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) to build most of a mile of logging road which would fragment the Underwood Roadless Area and threaten key fish and wildlife habitat values above the Wild and Scenic South Fork Trinity River.

The proposed road would give SPI cheap access to a "landlocked" 160-acre parcel containing never-logged stands of old-growth forest. The proposed logging and road-building on National Forest land, and logging of the SPI parcel, would fragment and impair habitat for the Northern spotted owl and Peregrine falcon, as well as many other species of wildlife. The Underwood Roadless Area includes lands on both the Six Rivers and Shasta-Trinity National Forests, and is proposed for permanent protection as Wilderness in Senator Barbara Boxer's statewide Wilderness bill.

Development of this remote parcel may impair water quality and harm fish, including the state and federally protected coho salmon, critically imperiled spring-run chinook, and steelhead, by increasing water temperatures and sedimentation in Underwood Creek. The creek now provides a critical cold-water refuge at its confluence with the Wild and Scenic South Fork Trinity River, downstream from the proposed logging.

EPIC and other conservation groups want the Forest Service to protect the public lands by standing up to SPI's demands. SPI can, and often does, log by helicopter -- it's just cheaper to build a road. Because EPIC and others demanded that the Forest Service follow the environmental laws, the Six Rivers National Forest has agreed to prepare a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to analyze the proposed road and alternative actions.

Now it's your turn to weigh in! Help the Forest Service understand what's at stake in the Underwood Roadless Area and South Fork Trinity River.

Please write TODAY to the Six Rivers National Forest and note your concerns about allowing our precious wild lands to be developed. To be fully considered, scoping comments should be received by January 3rd, 2006 by mail to:

Jeff Walter, Forest Supervisor
Six Rivers National Forest
1330 Bayshore Way
Eureka CA 95501-3834

or by fax to (707) 442-9242

Please send a copy of your letter to Rep. Mike Thompson and Senator Barbara Boxer.