AWR Legislative Program

AWR continues to support legislative actions to protect fish and wildlife habitat, wilderness, and forests. The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA) was reintroduced into the U.S. Congress by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY).

We also educate members of Congress about legislative actions which harm native forests, fish and wildlife. At an activists conference in Spokane, Washington, AWR's Jennifer Ferenstein first promoted the idea of a bill to repeal the salvage "logging without laws" rider signed by President Clinton. With the help of dozens of grassroots groups around the country, this idea blossomed into a bi-partisan bill introduced by Rep. Elizabeth Furse (D-OR) and Constance Morella (R-MD) which now has 126 sponsors.

AWR also appears on an annual basis to testify at the request of the House Interior Appropriations Committee which, among many things, oversees the U.S. Forest Service's timber and roadbuilding budgets. We continue to be an effective voice on land management issues in our region and we regularly supply Congress with pertinent economic and scientific data on below-cost timber sales, salvage logging, threatened and endangered species recovery, and other issues.