Greetings!

As you know, too much of our work over the past few years has been to expose the perils of quid pro quo wilderness--counterfeit "wilderness" legislation that sells off, even gives away, our public land and facilitates all manner of damaging land and water developments. Proponents, including conservationists, say that these highly-compromised proposals are the only possible route to wilderness designation and reflect a "political reality" we must accept. Tomorrow, in a hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives, that approach will be repudiated. The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA) will receive its first hearing since the Republican lock on Congress began in 1994.

NREPA will protect as wilderness nearly 7 million acres of wilderness in Montana, 9.5 million acres of wilderness in Idaho, 5 million acres of wilderness in Wyoming, 750,000 acres in eastern Oregon, and 500,000 acres in eastern Washington on YOUR PUBLIC LAND. No federal land will be put up for sale; no water pipelines will be built; no transmission corridors will be created in wilderness. There is no quid pro quo.

Wilderness is not "our issue," but we believe NREPA is a visionary and critically important bill--and we ask you to consider submitting brief testimony in support. You do not have to be an expert on the details of this bill; it can be as simple as stating that you support large-scale,uncompromised wilderness and real public land protection, which NREPA (HR 1975) embodies! You can also find tons more information on the NREPA homepage. The hearing, scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, will be webcast live. Among the witnesses will be singer-songwriter Carole King, NREPA's long-time champion. Testimony will be accepted through October 28th, and should be emailed to Domenick.Carroll@mail.house.gov

Thanks, members and supporters, for your interest in these issues.