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Jewish Perspectives on Land Use
Jewish
Council for Public Affairs Agenda for 2000-2001
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY: PROTECTING THREATENED ECOSYSTEMS
The JCPA supports the establishment of a system
of interconnected, strictly protected biological
preserves on land, in fresh water, and in the
sea; the management of both public and private
lands to preserve and restore biological diversity;
and a strengthened Endangered Species Act.
The United States already has lost 96% of its
old-growth forests. Forest ecosystems provide
refuges for thousands of endangered and threatened
creatures and plants and are vital to the protection
of clean water sources for tens of millions of
North Americans. Most of the remaining old growth
forests in the U.S. are in National Forests. Over
377,810 miles of roads — enough to circle the
Earth 15 times — crisscross the U.S. National
Forests.
In October 1999, President Clinton instructed
the Forest Service to conduct an Environmental
Impact Statement concerning the preservation of
roadless areas in National Forests across the
nation. The initiative may protect as many as
60 million of the 192 million acres in the National
Forest system from logging and other commercial
development. The Administration is expected to
issue a final policy before the end of 2000.
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The Alaskan Congressional delegation is likely
to put tremendous pressure on the Administration
to exclude from the policy the Tongass National
Forest in Alaska, the largest and one of the most
pristine national forests. The organized Jewish
community will be called upon to join coalition
partners to ensure that the final policy not only
covers all national forests but that it maximizes
the acreage of old growth forest habitats off
limits to all damaging activities, including logging,
mining, oil drilling, and road-building.
On the congressional front, champions of environmental
protection lost a good friend and ally with the
sudden death of Senator John Chafee (RI), Chair
of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
The FY 2000 appropriations process was used again
as an opportunity by members of Congress to attempt
passage of a wide array of anti-environmental
provisions. The organized Jewish community will
be called upon to continue to oppose legislation
designed to weaken protection of public lands.
Frustrated by the lack of progress through government,
conservation advocates increasingly are looking
directly to the private sector. The organized
Jewish community increasingly will be called upon
to encourage businesspeople who are in the public
eye because of environmental issues to demonstrate
leadership that advances both environmental protection
and traditional community relations goals.
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