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Write a letter to the editor or an op ed to your local newspaper — like these ones by Once a Forest members.

These reach thousands of readers and live on, on the web.

Petition

We want an environmental impact statement (EIS) completed for the Santa Fe Mountain Landscape Resiliency Project. The Forest Service intends to cut most of the trees on 21,000 acres (33 square miles), and to burn repeatedly 43,000 acres (67 square miles) within the project area from Tesuque to Glorieta. Based on past projects, we expect with a high degree of certainty that over 90% of the trees would be removed in thinned areas. An EIS must be done for this project before the Forest Service resumes the cutting and burning. An EIS is required if the project will cause significant impact on the human environment. Obviously, cutting and burning 67 square miles will cause significant impact.

SIGN OUR PETITION TO ELECTED OFFICIALS FOR AN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT (EIS) BEFORE MORE CUTTING & BURNING

SIGN FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION

Few people in Santa Fe are aware of the scope of this deforestation. We ask our representatives to request a PAUSE for the project to reconsider what the Forest Service is doing, according to the best available science under accelerating climate change for our forest, our health, and our future.

SIGN AS AN INDIVIDUAL

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SIGN ON YOUR ORGANIZATION

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STATEMENT

First, we want a pause on cutting and burning until the pros and cons have been heard in a public hearing.

We want our elected officials to oversee and review federal projects to make sure they are in the best interest of the health and well being of New Mexicans. We want the Forest Service to do an Health Impact Assessment for our community before continuing to burn.

Many Forest Service projects are called “restoration projects.” They include a lot of prescribed burning (fuel reduction) which is very controversial. We need a detailed definition of “restoration.”

We are not opposed to all prescribed burns. Like DellaSalla, the well known forest scientist said, "a surgical burn is okay." That means small, to a purpose, with site specific studies. Forests that have burned once are more, not less likely to burn again.

We want the Forest Service to stop burning during nesting season, on windy days, and when we are in extreme drought. We want the Forest Service to discontinue cutting down the big old trees. We want them to minimize burning because the smoke is deadly. Our air quality is already bad; we have gone from an “A” to a “B” rating from the American Lung Association in the last few years (The New Mexican, 4/21/16, Santa Fe Slips to a B....). These burns exacerbate climate disruption.

We must find alternative ways to live with the forest without killing thousands of animals and birds. We suggest contour felling, planting trees, developing firewise communities with defensible space, having firewise building codes, burying power lines, and enforcing laws about campfires.

We must protect the life and diversity of the irreplaceable forest.

Please sign our petition above requesting an environmental impact statement.