A $358,000 grant from the office of U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) has funded the past and ongoing logging of treasured Jefferson County Open Space parks, Elk Meadow and Alderfer/Three Sisters, including mature and old-growth trees up to 211 years old (see photo from Denver Post).
A second $600,000 grant would finance the construction of a road, potentially through some of the most pristine old growth forest in Boulder County, Colorado.
Contact Rep. Neguse at https://neguse.house.gov/contact
While the stated premise of the Jefferson County grant was to fund “wildfire risk reduction,” the on-the-ground reality is some of most aggressive forest “management” in Colorado and the western U.S., including clearcutting and supplying hundreds of mature and old-growth trees to private logging contractors, all at taxpayer expense. What’s more, in the months after the logging, hundreds more trees have fallen as “windthrow” due to lack of protective forest cover.
Despite Rep. Neguse’s stated concerns for environmental and climate issues in Colorado’s “bluest” district, the Democrat has become one of Congress’ most vocal cheerleaders for cutting tens of millions of acres of carbon-storing public forests in the controversial and scientifically contested name of “wildfire fuel reduction.”
Indeed, a vast and growing body of peer reviewed science refutes logging industry and agency assertions that “fuel reduction” protects communities from wildfire. These studies (both independent and from U.S. Forest Service) show that “thinning” heats up and dries out the forest microclimate, which can make fires start easier and burn more intensely—including igniting crown fires—while opening stands that let winds spread flames quicker to nearby communities, potentially overwhelming firefighters and evacuees.
One of Rep. Neguse’s recent bills would direct $30 billion in tax dollars towards so-called “hazardous fuels reduction,” with zero funding for the patrolling and/or closing of any of the 380,000 miles of National Forest logging roads, one of the main vectors for human-caused ignitions, 84% of all wildfires.
Despite Rep. Neguse personally inviting several concerned constituents and members of the public to a face-to-face meeting to discuss the conflicted science, staffers Sally Anderson, Abbie Callahan, Emma Salas, and Max Coker, canceled the meeting last minute without notice, and have since refused to reschedule or respond to multiple phone or email communications.
Eco-Integrity Alliance 