National Forest Service Wants To Sell Public Land From North Carolina to Calif.

The Mustang & Wild Horse Rescue has learned of a request by the National
Forest Service to sell off public land. Some 55,862 acres of national
forest lands in the South are among about 300,000 the Bush administration
hopes to sell as part of a new bid to fund rural schools, according to a
list posted on a US Forest Service Web site. In Tennessee, nearly 3,000
acres of the Cherokee National Forest are on the list.

Georgia lands listed total more than 4,500 acres, almost all of them - 3,972
acres - in the Chattahoochee National Forest in Chattooga, Fannin, Floyd,
Gilmer, Murray and Walker counties.

Alabama could lose 3,220 acres, most from Talladega National Forest.

North Carolina, Virginia and South Carolina have more than 20,000 acres in
lands listed from nine national forests, including the Pisgah and Nantahala
forests in NC.

David Carr, public lands project director with the Southern Environmental
Law Center, said the government should not be putting the public's land up
for sale to meet its budgetary obligations. "Selling off America's natural
heritage is not the way to fund government services", Mr. Carr said in a new
release Friday. Mr. Carr said the Southern region has the second most acres
on the potential sale list behind California, where more than 85,000 acres
of forest land are identified for possible liquidation.

"We need more national forest lands, not less", Mr. Carr stated.

We feel strongly that selling off this land will subject it to clear cutting
by private individuals and we would hate to see this happen. Please contact
your local representative to vote against this request. Below is a link to
a web site where you can locate your representatives.
http://www.conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm
Sincerely,

David V. Hesse