Jon S. Corzine: “today I am introducing the Act to Save America's Forests. The purpose of this legislation is to protect our national…”

“today I am introducing the Act to Save America's Forests. The purpose of this legislation is to protect our national forests from needless clearcutting, safeguard our roadless areas, and preserve the last remaining stands of ancient forests in this country. At one time there was approximately billions of acres of forest on the land that is now the United States. Sadly, less than 10 percent of the original unlogged forests of the United States remain, and in the lower 48 States only 1 percent is in a form large enough to support all the native plants and animals. The 1 percent left is under constant threat, so we must act as soon as possible to keep us from losing these precious forest lands forever. Our national forests also are under attack from clearcutting. The process of clearcutting, or removing huge groups of trees at once, devastates wildlife habitats, creates a blighted landscape, increases soil erosion, and degrades water quality. Over a quarter-million acres of our national forests were clearcut in the past decade alone. The process of clearcutting annihilates vibrant, ecologically diverse forests are usually replaced, if at all, with a single species tree farm. This is irresponsible forest management that ignores ecology and concentrates solely on flawed economics. This bill utilizes a scientific approach to forest management.…”