I urge you to conduct effective species monitoring and inventory management procedures.

   It is my opinion that the National Forests have become an important national treasure not to be treated as a simple resource for commerce. As the entire East becomes developed these National Forest areas become more important every day.

   Natural areas are important to the health and quality of life for people.

   If there has to be logging then it should be effectively managed and I don't see how that can be done without meaningful inventories of species.

   I suspect that there are limited resources to conduct the desired inventories. If this is the case then the expenses should be passed along to the limited and well conceived logging that is allowed. Let the users pay, and let the price of wood reflect these costs.

   I do appreciate what you are doing to manage and care for our National Forests.

Respectfully,

Here are the reasons given by the Corps:

• The water is not needed.
• Four independent government and private studies agree with the Army Corps of Engineers that the need for water has been exaggerated.
• The needs of Newport News and the Peninsula can be met through existing sources, conservation and less expensive and less destructive alternatives.
• The Mattaponi American Indian Tribe would be irreparably harmed. Fishing for shad is not only necessary for subsistence, but also an integral part of the Mattaponi culture, practiced continuously for over 15,000 years along the banks of the river, which bears their name. By diverting large quantities of fresh water from the tidal river, salt water from the Chesapeake Bay will move upstream, endangering the shad spawning grounds and the last of the Mattaponi living culture.
• The reservoir would violate a treaty, signed in 1677, providing for a three mile buffer around the tribal lands.
• Over 70 documented archaeological sites would be flooded, as well as land that is sacred to the Mattaponi People, impacting religious practices.
• The damage to the environment cannot be mitigated.
• The King William Reservoir would destroy 1,526 acres of a highly diverse upland/wetland system including 437 acres of wetlands that provides high quality wildlife habitat as well as important water quality functions.
• The reservoir would disturb two federally listed threatened plant species, the sensitive joint vetch and the small whorled pogonia.
• The massive water withdrawals from the Mattaponi River may change the river's salinity, threatening fish like shad and the river's basic ecology.

For more information and Sample Letters, contact: Ginette Smith (804-769-4226) with the Alliance to Save the Mattaponi; or Pat DeZern (804-323-1109) with the Sierra Club; or e-mail us at: savethemattaponi@prodigy.net, or go to the Virginia Sierra Club website, savethemattaponi.org.

Dear Senator Warner:

   As a hiker and backpacker, I've had the opportunity to explore some of America's great natural lands, including in Virginia. I believe our national parks and refuges are part of America's enduring natural legacy, and I am proud that we have had the foresight, from the time of President Teddy Roosevelt to the present day, to preserve so much of our national heritage. So I am greatly concerned by the House of Representative's passage of the so-called "Energy Security Act," which mandates oil development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

   This is an egregious example of the tight grip the oil industry has over Members of Congress. Despite strong opposition from most Americans, a huge gift to Big Oil was handed to Big Oil at the expense of America's last great wilderness.

   The argument for opening the Arctic Refuge doesn't even hold water. Drilling proponents claim that the energy bill will reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, yet the publicly available data, published by the U.S. Geological Survey, estimates that the oil likely to be recovered from the Refuge amounts to less that a six-month supply. What's more, this oil won't even reach U.S. markets for another 10 years. It's clear that common sense has not prevailed in the case of this House vote, but rather, pressure from the oil industry.

   I urge you to listen to your constituents - not Big Oil - and vote against any legislation that permits any drilling or exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge when it comes up in the Senate this Fall. Please tell me that you will take the long view, generations out, and protect this irreplaceable wonder from harm.

Respectfully,

Dear Secretary Caldera,

   In accordance with federal statues, this is a "Freedom of Information Act" request. We request a copy of all file items dated 1 January 1996 and later pertaining to the proposed golf course at Fort Story, Virginia.

   Specifically, we request a copy of all letters, memoranda, reports, studies, assessments, and all other items on file pertaining to the proposed golf course at Fort Story, Virginia.

   We are a public-interest environmental group. As provided by federal law, we request a waiver of any charges for making these copies.

   Please acknowledge receipt of this request within 10 working days.

Yours very respectfully,