*** Plant A Tree For Critical Mass! ***

=v= Arbor Day varies from state to state (due to climate), but
it's often the last Friday of April, which in many places is
the same day as Critical Mass! Two great Earth-friendly events
on the same day. (You can look up your local Arbor Day at this
website:

http://arborday.org/

Or just plant trees during Critical Mass any time!)

=v= Earth Day is usually April 22nd, though Earth Day events
vary quite a bit as well (they're usually on weekends):

http://www.earthday.net/

It's usually a good idea for Critical Mass to show up at Earth
Day events. It's a great place to pass out fliers, and you've
got to keep an eye on those who are trying to "save the earth"
by trying to sell "eco-friendly" cars and SUVs.

=v= If you're looking for something to do *on* Earth Day, see
below.
<_Jym_>

=> Date: April 21, 2003 (Please Post Widely)
=> From: Lisa Dix, American Lands & Andrew George
=> Organization: National Forest Protection Alliance

April 22 Call in Day and Action Items for Earth Day

Earth Day of Action: Protest against Bush Administration
attempts to put timber industry profits ahead of forest
protection and public input

On April 22, 2003, join with thousands on Earthday as we unite
to defend our public forests and urge our decision makers to act
to stop the Bush Administration's efforts to gut environmental
protections, exclude citizens from decisions affecting public
lands, and hand over our public lands to logging companies.

Call in Day: On April 22 please make a simple toll-free call
to Congress to oppose efforts by the Bush Administration to gut
critical environmental protections in order to turn our public
forests over to logging companies. Tell Congress to keep public
lands in public hands! Call the Congressional switchboard
toll-free at 1-800/262-8333 (pin:0865). You will be asked the
name of your Representative or Senators and transferred to the
office. Ask your Representative and Senators to:

Oppose the Bush Administration's Healthy Forest Initiative and
other efforts to gut Forest Protection Laws. The Bush
Administration continues to claim that its Healthy Forests
Initiative (HFI) will make our public lands more "healthy" or
will help protect communities from wildfires. However, the HFI
is nothing more than a green-washing campaign designed to give
logging companies and other extractive industries free reign
over public lands at the expense of true restoration, community
protection and public participation. A sample of the Bush
Administration anti-forest initiatives include:

· Allowing logging of up to 250 acres without environmental
review or public involvement. Incredibly, the Bush
administration claims that cutting down trees over an area the
size of 83 football fields has no impact on the environment!

· Increasing logging of ancient, old-growth forests while
reducing protections for salmon and ancient forest dependent
species such as the Northern Spotted Owl by gutting critical
protections in the Northwest Forest Plan.

· Reducing protections for threatened and endangered species
when conducting "fuel reduction" logging projects.

· Blocking the implementation of the Roadless Area Conservation
Rule.

· Eliminating critical wildlife and forest protections and
public participation in forest-wide planning by making the
National Forest Management Act (NFMA) regulations non-binding
and voluntary.

· Exempting hazardous fuel reduction projects - including large
logging projects that could target ancient forests or roadless
areas - from environmental analysis and public review.