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Forest Service Public Meeting For Plan Revision of Pisgah and Natahala Forests

10 Jul 2014


The Forest Service public meeting for the plan revision of
Pisgah and Nantahala Forests
July 10,2014
At the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Asheville, NC
9:00 am to 3:00 pm

Please see the link below for more information, including the agenda.
http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/nfsnc/home/?cid=STELPRDB5397660

At the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Asheville, NC
Discussion topics will include (1) wildlife habitat and (2) managing for ecosystem integrity and ecosystem diversity. An information and comment station for Wild and Scenic Rivers will also be available
Tentative meeting time is from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm
Meeting agenda
The Preliminary Need to Change the Existing Land Management Plan has been updated based on scoping comments.
Coming Next in August and September: Establishing Management Areas, Desired Conditions, Objectives, Standards and Guidelines in the Revised Plan
We anticipate six public meetings across Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests in the vicinity of the six ranger districts

This meeting will provide time for public input and be a good opportunity to ask questions related to fracking on public lands. Other concerns such as prescribed burns, logging, mining, shooting ranges, drilling, water usage, mineral extraction, roadless areas, guns and hunting may be addressed as well.

for additional information contact Elizabeth or Daisy O'Nan/ 828 724 4221 or pace@mcdowell.main.nc.us
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"The great issue of our time is whether the American people will be successful in defeating the efforts of the billionaire class which seeks to move our country into an oligarchic form of society in which a handful of super-wealthy families control the economic and political life of this nation.

The Koch brothers, right-wing extremists who are now worth some $80 billion dollars, are prepared to spend as much as it takes to create an America in their vision. And what is that vision? The elimination of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, federal aid to education, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the concept of the minimum wage. Meanwhile, of course, they want more tax breaks for corporations and the rich.

In the 2012 presidential election, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney each spent a little more than $1 billion in their presidential races. As a result of the disastrous Citizen's United Supreme Court ruling, the Koch brothers and their shadow money group, Americans for Prosperity, spent $412 million—and that figure is only going to rise in the months and years to come. Incredibly, the Koch Brothers and their allies have amassed power that rivals either political party.

That is not what America is supposed to be about." By Senator Bernie Sanders.

There is no place that presents a better example of this oligarchic power grab that the extraction factions attacking the US Forests and state forests with the assistance of public employees and non profit organizations who know the oligarchy will well pay their inside assistants who falsely pose as unbiased experts. The US Forest Service (USFS)and the NC Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) continue to push for destructive extractions such as "prescribed burns", which new and repeated studies have shown do not prevent fires, cause serious and deadly health damages such as asthma and heart attacks, and contribute to Global warming. Logging is another destructive extraction promoted by the USFS and NCWRC who now promote "opening the canopy" in old growth forests as an excuse to log these pristine areas. They also want to log interior areas so that the public will not easily see the logging by leaving a buffer of uncut trees along roads where the destruction will be hidden from the public. Despite vows of no interest in allowing fracking on USFS land, there are clearly plans to do so. No doubt the NCWRC will want in on fracking too. Our paid forest caretakers and supporting non profits have no appropriate respect for the forests or wildlife because of their intrinsic value, only what extractions that can be rendered into cash or generate rewards for the oligarchic minority.