HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-27-21 Public Comment - I. Shaida - BMW ProjectFrom:Isabel Shaida
To:Agenda
Subject:Old Growth Logging
Date:Tuesday, July 27, 2021 8:46:44 AM
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Dear Commissioners,
The Gallatin Valley Sunrise hub would like to voice our support of protecting “old growth”
from commercial logging on National Forest Lands outside of Bozeman.
We ask that you vote against filing an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that
supports the logging of 651 acres of “old growth” as part of the Bozeman Municipal
Watershed (“BMW”) Project.
Protecting old growth is one of the most important things we can do to mitigate against the
effects of climate change.
Our ways of “preventing” wildfires for the past one hundred years have not left our forests
more resilient to increased heat and drought. Logging frequently increases fire danger by
drying out the forest, encouraging weeds and brush to grow, and increasing wind speeds.
Land use change, primarily the conversion of forests to other land uses, is the second
leading source of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions globally. We need to be
actively stewarding carbon sequestration, not allowing for its continued release and
lessening the planet's natural means of storing CO2. A natural means that once depleted
cannot be replaced according to published peer-reviewed work from the National Academy
of Sciences which states trees may not grow back after logging because of drought/climate
change.
Let us challenge our assumption of how to protect our futures. Fire threatening our water
supplies is a valid fear. However, the old growth (Kirk Hill and proposed South Cottonwood
Wilderness Study Area) is not located near the City’s Water Supply.
We are past the point of no return for major disasters. We can interrogate the systems that
got us to this place. We can acknowledge our fear and then come up with wider solutions.
We can invest in systems that reduce our water demand, integrate rainwater catchment into
our city, develop dense living, grow public transportation and reduce our carbon emissions.
Let us pause.
We ask the City Commission NOT to send an Amicus Brief to the court, and instead send a
letter to the Forest Service asking them to withdraw from the proposed project in order to
better study the effects of climate change, logging, and water security.
Sincerely,
The Gallatin Valley Sunrise Movement