Wilderness Bill

The Sierra Club’s executive director, Carl Pope, deliberately misleads us when he tries to justify his support for the Montana bill (letter, May 9). I am the vice-chair of the Sierra Club’s Many Rivers group in Oregon. What Pope failed to tell us in his letter is that Sierra Club members across the nation have protested our national management’s support for the bill, which is a blatant timber industry bill. The club’s management has consistently suppressed the dissent of our members.

The Montana bill explicitly releases over 4 million acres of roadless areas--pristine public forests--to clear-cutting, and at a cost to taxpayers of $60 million a year. It legalizes illegal Reagan-era forest plans, so ordinary citizens can no longer challenge them in court. Recent uncontested statements from key members of Congress confirm this. Pope claims that this bill won’t increase the destruction of Montana’s remaining roadless areas. But the bill’s own sponsor in Congress, Pat Williams (D-Mont.), brags publicly that his bill will remove current obstacles to logging and mining these areas, and will be a “boon” to extractive industries.

It is outrageous that the Sierra Club’s management is supporting this destructive bill. Our organization’s founder, John Muir, must be rolling in his grave.

CHAD HANSON

Eugene, Ore.