I would like to thank Sens. Snowe and Collins for their strong support of America’s national forests. Both voted in favor of an amendment that would have stripped language from a federal spending bill that would stifle the public’s ability to speak out about logging in the Tongass, America’s largest national forest.

The language the amendment sought to remove was inserted into the spending bill so that special interests could rip off our wealth – the Forest Service loses millions each year selling, below cost, 400-year-old trees from the Tongass.

More important than Snowe’s and Collins’ defense of our national forests was their defense of the public’s – that is us regular folks’ – right to have a say in what our government does. The provision limiting the public’s right to comment on the disposition of our resources was profoundly undemocratic. Many thanks to our senators for

trying to defend our right to rule ourselves – unfortunately, the amendment failed and the undemocratic language remains in the bill.

Russell Heath

Steuben