Santa Fe Forest Coalition

Here are comments from people who have signed the petition:

"An EIS is essential as is greater public involvement. These thinning projects are very destructive and create roads in roadless areas, and all for highly questionable benefits."

"The prescription of cutting 93% is drastic and unwarranted, given the recent Forest Service study (Johnson, 2011) recommending leaving 125 and 250 trees per acre. Do and EIS!!"

"Please use compliance with NEPA to schedule an EIS before going forward with all tree clearing projects in the fireside. I am particularly concerned that a cut based on an outdated assessment (2005!) may go forward without any revisions. Thank you for protecting the forest and for not permitting drastic (90% or greater) tree cutting."

"Clearing 95% of the trees is a significant federal action and clearing requires detailed analysis and public disclosure in an EIS."

"We need all the trees!"

"Please stop any tree clearing projects in the Santa Fe fireshed until an EIS has been completed. This is a critical time on earth to be clearing more trees. Thank you. Paula Seaton"

"Thank you."

"The requirement for an EIS is the common sense approach and should be supported by all."

"Please stop cutting down and burning our trees in the Greater Santa Fe Watershed."

"Clear, clean air is vital to many aspects of local life, including tourism. I'm sick of the frequent burns spoiling that, especially if the rationale for them is suspect."

"Please Take into account the new studies of the JOHNSON Study Lyra Barron Mentioned as well as the EIS being completed. No more cutting please."

"Please, I would like to require an EIS before we allow further tree clearing and disrupting or killing of wildlife. The old ways of doing things without question don't work for our environment today. Thank you."

"We thought thinning trees on our land adjacent the SFNF would be a good idea. But it is clear to us now that the forest is so stressed from lack of moisture that opening up the canopy has only further overwhelmed the whole system. please be sensitive and sensible - NOT invasive and destructive."

"Save our forest please."

"Please don't act too hastily.....wait until EIS has completed a study.......don't leave any stone unturned...for the greater good of all forest, wildlife and humans. Act with great care ...thank you."

"The Forest Service mission, according to its website, is to 'sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the national forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations.' This is clearly not the objective that is now what is being pursued in our area."

"While I am not a resident of New Mexico, I have spent time there and enjoyed the beauty and serenity of its forests. I was very distressed to learn of the recent clearing operations that have dangerously thinned large tracts of the forest, leaving an unsightly mess. The overly aggressive thinning has destroyed animal habitats and increased the likelihood of erosion. I stand with those residents and voters of New Mexico who care about their forests by requesting that all thinning operations cease until an EIS is undertaken. Thank you."

"It is so heart breaking to see the extreme tree cutting that is occurring in and nearby the Santa Fe National Forest. It simply devastates the forest, and we are seeing that it weakens the remaining trees so they are contracting tree diseases. We need a thorough study of this tree clearing project by the completion of an Environmental Impact Statement. www.santafenewmexican.com/opinion/my_view/reader-view-help-save-our-forest/article_934def3e-5d13-594e-a4cb-899617365fde.html "

"Thank you for caring so much about our piece of the environment and saving the forest from over cutting."

"Please moderate your care and clear cutting of the forest."

"Comply with existing laws and prepare an EIS before any tree thinning or clearing. Don't rely on outdated science, consult current science when making decisions about forest management."

"Beautiful area. Worth protecting."

"I live adjacent to the national forest, and implore you to conduct an EIS as this petition states...as public input is impt and needed in this effort. Of course we need to make the forests safer, but we also need to preserve habitat for wildlife, and other needed ecosystem functions."

"Please do not burn trees in the western slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountains above Santa Fe; new science (Hidden Life of Trees) shows their community networking & their sequestering of carbon are life giving. We value the forest in its natural state, as we value ecological integrity over profit. Maj-Britt Eagle, 21 Cougar Ridge Road, 87505"

"I live adjacent to the SF National Forest and of course fire safety is a major concern. Likewise a poor EIS is also a major concern. I request that the SFNF prepare an EIS that complies with established guidelines for a tree clearing program."

"Please stop clearing trees around Santa Fe until an EIS has been done."

"This is an abomination! With all the pollution already compromising our air quality and the one thing that stands to benefit the problem being foolishly demolished with heavy petroleum guzzling ecosystem destroying equipment as a preemptive strike against wildfires? This is pure insanity."

"It is standard practice to require an EIS before projects of this magnitude. Please act with due caution. Waiting for an EIS simply makes sense."

"Although any study cannot completely cover the complexity of the forest with climate changes occurring, to speed ahead with thinning without a thorough EIS is an exercise in ignorance headed for disaster of our public lands. Respect for the health of our forests and therefore our planet absolutely requires, at a minimum, an EIS."

"Please find alternatives and protect our forests from unnecessary damage to life! thank you!"

"PLEASE DO NOT CLEAR THE FORESTS."

"Greater Santa Fe Fireshed work is not a "project" but instead its a program. A programmatic EIS must be completed."

"I've lived in Northern NM since 1957. I've known in my heart that it is Wrong to burn forests, but I just found out, in the Green Fire Times, that other folks know this also! I'm grateful to not be alone! The smoke from those "prescribed burns" is used to cover air pollution from other sources. When will we stop the destruction?! I'm no scientist, just a living breathing person, who once loved to roam NM's forests."

"Stop the burns! They cause harm to people, animals, vegetation and are NOT scientifically proven to wrk. Moreover STOP doing whatever you please without citizen input, Forest Service."

"What a great idea! Let's burn more forests so we add yet more carbon to the atmosphere and further enrich whatever greedy corporation will make a killing - literally and figuratively - off of this. It's "plans" like this that bear witness to the fact that capitalism makes you stupid...RREALLY STUPID!!"

"I demand a comprehensive environmental impact statement."

"Greed and Ignorance Guide the US Forest Policies. Stop the prescribed burns creating medical harm to humans. Let's get beyond the Modern Dark Ages to a Journey to Truth and Healing."

"Our forests are vital and life-giving; air giving. Please have some common sense. Protect our forests. For the People. For the animals. For the planet. It's the right thing to do. Generations to come will thank you."

"Do the study and publish the results before any further action!!!"

"Yes to stopping all plans of deforestation in Santa Fe Forest."

"Please do environmental study first for this small fragile vulnerable eco system which serves so much to Santa Fe residents."

"We need to save our beautiful forests from this travesty!"

"An EIS is necessary!"

"I am fortunate to be able to experience our Santa Fe National Forest for several weeks each year while camping at Black Canyon and Hyde Park. It is essential to protect the roadless areas."

"Wildlife are being stressed by climate change. Cutting and burning the forest is criminal, further distresses wildlife, humans, the remaining forest, air and water. An EIS is essential!"

"I live in an area that is being thinned, and the drive I once so enjoyed now brings tears to my eyes. I love the trees, and now the beauty of the wild untouched nature is forever gone, to no purpose. We now have mountains of slash that feel more dangerous."

"An EPA assessment should also evaluate the impact on the adjacent Pecos Wilderness."

"NO clearing until an EIS is completed."

"This is the only responsible course of action. We expect compliance from our government."

"Please dont thin the trees and leave all the brush, and your damage to the wild life and land."

"There is NO scientific evidence supporting the ongoing radical forest thinning in eastern Santa Fe county, and its destructive impact to the forest and the wildlife is undeniable."

"Stop denuding our forest and disrupting the natural balance until an EIS report is done. This is mindless destruction of our forest!"

"Please take necessary steps to prevent forest fires in the Pecos Wilderness. An impact statement sounds like a good idea to me."

"There are responsible ways to thin a forest and make it resilient to fire, and non-responsible ways that destroy a forest."

"AN EIS STATEMENT FIRST THAT COMPLIES WITH NEPA IS THE RIGHT FIRST STEP."

"Since the EPA is currently leaderless, we must do what we can to keep our parks and national forests intact."

"An EIS is essential before decisions to proceed begin."

"Stop clear cutting trees until and EIS has been completed and the public fully informed and involved in the process."

"Please don't destroy the forest especially when it appears that there is absolutely no benefit to doing so. "