Letter Writing Guide



Below you will find a fact sheet, letter to the editor how-to and the mail and email addresses of target newspapers. You can write a single letter and submit it to all seven papers.

Fact sheet

On June 1, 2004, the Bush administration unveiled a massive logging plan that will cut 372 million board feet of timber and cause serious damage to the world-renowned Siskiyou Wild Rivers Area. The project will:

  • Log 372 million board feet making this the largest timber sale in modern U.S. history.
  • Log 8,284 acres of inventoried roadless areas.
  • Log 6,303 acres out of old growth reserves (not counting the reserves found in roadless areas). 70,000 log trucks to haul the trees to the sawmills
  • Cost taxpayers more than $40 million

    A Better Approach: The Siskiyou Restoration Plan

    A better plan would combine watershed restoration with limited commercial logging that won't harm sensitive forests or streams. Under this plan, over 400 new jobs would be created in southern Oregon. This plan will allow limited logging, repair the land and in leave much more forest eligible for future wilderness designation. It is also a plan that can move forward this summer with the backing of many conservation organizations. See a summary of this plan at: www.siskiyourestoration.info/siskiyouplan

    Siskiyou Wild Rivers

    The Biscuit fire burned within the Siskiyou Wild Rivers area, a landscape graced by pristine rivers, steep, rugged mountains, huge roadless forests and world class bio-diversity. Because of its remarkable characteristics, calls for permanent protection of this fire dependent ecosystem go back to the 1930's.

    Siskiyou Wild Rivers includes:

  • The largest unprotected roadless forests in Oregon _the North and South Kalmiopsis Roadless Areas
  • More Wild & Scenic Rivers than any place on the continental US
  • One of the most botantically diverse National Forests in the country (Siskiyou National Forest)
  • Some of the best remaining wild salmon and steelhead runs in the contiguous US
  • Proposed as a National Monument 2000
  • Designated as an area of global botanical significance by the World Conservation Union
  • Proposed "World Heritage Site" and "Biosphere Reserve"
  • Three designated Wild & Scenic Rivers, including the renown Illinois and Rogue rivers, with an additional 13 other rivers eligible

    Letter to the Editor Writing Guide

    1. Start with a sentence or phrase about yourself and/or your connection to the area. (Such as "As a homeowner in the Illinois Valley, I care about the way we treat the forests of our area." Or "As a 20 year resident of Southern Orgeon I've had many opportunities to hike through the Kalmiopsis area, site of the Biscuit Fire.")

    2. Say something about what you would like to see happen. (Such as "I support the creation of a Siskiyou Wild Rivers National Conservation Area." or "I believe that all ancient forests, burned or not should remain free of logging.")

    3. Say something about the government's plan. (Such as "Instead the Bush Administration has proposed the largest timber sale in modern history.")

    4. Support your arguement. (Such as "The Forest Service admits that any new jobs would simply substitute for timber already available." or "Independent analysis suggests that this project will cost taxpayers more than $40 million.")

    5. Finish with a wrap up statement that engages people. (Such as "I for one will make sure that Senators Wyden and Smith and Congressman DeFazio know I am against this extreme proposal." or "I encourage my fellow citizens to speak out against this.")

    Be creative. The point is to write and submit something right away. Even the letters that don't get printed help support printing more letters with our point of view. Thanks for your efforts to protect this amazing place that we all love so much.

    Information and Talking Points for your letter:

  • The Siskiyou Wild Rivers Area is one of the most diverse forests in the nation with healthy wild salmon runs and fragile, rare plant ecosystems. It is not a place for a massive logging project.
  • The forest in the Siskiyou Wild River Area is already naturally recovering from the 2002 fire. Logging this area now will only set recovery back.
  • This sale is extreme. It logs 370 million board feet (over 30 square miles) and is the largest timber sale in Forest Service history. It also is the largest attack on Roadless Areas and would degrade over 50,000 acres, disqualifying it from Wilderness protection.
  • The public overwhelmingly opposes this sale. 95% of comments on the sale opposed the massive logging proposal and recommended a more balanced approach that stayed out of roadless areas, old growth reserves and would not harm Wild and Scenic Rivers.
  • Restoration work could create about 400 new jobs in restoration work such as road decommissioning, thinning plantations and rehabilitating fire lines and trails.
  • The proposed logging doesn't make economic sense. The timber sales will cost more to log than the revenues they bring in. Most jobs will be short lived and out of the area. These won't be "new" jobs but will substitute for other logging work elsewhere.
  • Sacrificing the future tourist economy for a one time logging and tree planting operation makes no sense. Estimates are that $40 million a year in tourist money travels through SW Oregon. The T.J. Howell Botanical Drive through the Biscuit Fire would help keep some of these dollars in the valley.

    Grants Pass Daily Courier
    letters@thedailycourier.com
    Grants Pass Daily Courier, P.O. Box 1468, Grants Pass, OR, 97528
    no longer than 250 words

    Illinois Valley News
    newsroom1@frontiernet.net
    321 S Redwood Hwy, PO Box 1370, Cave Junction OR 97523
    Fax541-592-4330

    Medford Mail Tribune
    letters@mailtribune.com
    Letters to the editor, Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501
    Fax 541-776-4376
    200 word limit

    News-review, Roseburg
    http//www.newsreview.info/apps/pbcs.dll/misc?url=/misc/letter/index.pbs
    300 words

    Oregonian
    letters@news.oregonian.com
    The Oregonian 1320 SW Broadway, Pdx Or. 97201
    Fax 503-294-4193
    150 words

    Register-Guard, Eugene
    rgletters@guardnet.com
    www.registerguard.com
    Mailbag, POB 10188, Eugene, OR 97440-2188
    Fax 338-2828
    250 words

    Salem Statesman Journal
    letters@StatesmanJournal.com or go to: http://news.statesmanjournal.com/letter_form.cfm
    Letters to the Editor, Statesman Journal, P.O. Box 13009, Salem, OR, 97309-3009
    faxed to (503) 399-6706; or sent by email
    up to 200 words