Big Wild Bi-Weekly 12.16.09

Dear Friends,

Please join us this Friday, December 18, at 6:30 p.m. as we open the FOC office for our holiday dessert potluck. We will be reminiscing about our favorite outdoor experiences and enjoying dessert and your favorite seasonal beverages. For those who have not visited us before, we are located at 116 East Third St. above the Shirt Shack and across from the Wine Shop in downtown Moscow.

As we mentioned several weeks ago, Senator Jon Tester has been pushing the disastrous "Forest Jobs and Recreation Act." This bill would mandate logging in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge Forest above the levels of heyday logging from 1954-1996. It would also mandate logging in core grizzly habitat of the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem and would undermine the Roadless Rule and nearly every federal environmental law on the books. Unfortunately this bill, which has recently been introduced into the U.S. Senate (S. 1470) will be having a hearing tomorrow, December 17. We urge you to read up on this bill and to send testimony to Congress opposing this bill before December 31.

The bill summary and talking points can be found at http://testerloggingbilltruths.wordpress.com/

Follow directions here to send testimony to Congress opposing S. 1470, the "Forest Jobs and Recreation Act" http://testerloggingbilltruths.wordpress.com/make-your-voice-heard-submi...

Sign a petition opposing this bill at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/keeping-it-wild-in-defense-of-america39...

This information is brought to you by the "The Last Best Place Campaign," of which Friends of the Clearwater is a member as are many groups in the northwest and across the country.

Lastly, we want to make another plug for signing up with Friends of the Clearwater if you are not already a member.

As we have mentioned before, twenty-two years later it still only costs $25 a year to join and nearly all of your membership dues go directly to protecting the wild Clearwater country. If you sign up to give $10 a month for the next year you will receive a complimentary T-shirt in the size you indicate. If you sign up to give $25 a month you will receive a canvas hat, canvas tote bag, and our T-shirt. The canvas hats and tote bags have been beautifully embroidered with the FOC logo by long-time supporter and member Susan Ruether. You may view these offers and items here: http://www.friendsoftheclearwater.org/outreach.

Wishing you a wonderful and warm holiday season,

Will Boyd, Education & Outreach Director