New Deadline for Heritage Tree Preservation Act

The Heritage Tree Preservation Act needs to collect 419,260 valid signatures from registered voters to qualify for the California ballot. Despite our best efforts, we didn?t make the April deadline in order to qualify for the November, 2002 ballot as we had hoped. However, we can still qualify for the following statewide election in March, 2004. Therefore, the new deadline for returning signatures to the campaign office is May 31, 2002.
The Citizen?s Campaign for Old-Growth Preservation (CFOG) was formed to place an initiative on the November, 2002 statewide ballot calling for the preservation of old-growth trees on non-federally owned forestlands in the State of California. We have defined ?old-growth? as trees that were alive in the year California became a state (1850).
When Gray Davis was a candidate for governor of California, he promised to ensure that ?rivers are clean, wetlands are preserved and all old-growth trees are spared from the lumberjack?s ax.? (AP, March 15, 1998). Unfortunately, he has not kept that promise.
While our politicians promise us protection, our precious ancient forests continue to fall. CFOG was formed because it?s time to take the situation in our forests back to the people. We know that a large percentage of citizens believe that ancient forests should be preserved for the current health of our state and for future generations. We can anticipate that timber corporations and their allies will put a significant amount of money into defeating an initiative that limits their ability to continue business as usual. The industry spent approximately $30 million in 1990 to defeat the Forests Forever initiative. They will undoubtedly spend at least that much again this time. In contrast, we will raise perhaps one-tenth or less of their millions and rely largely upon volunteers. They have the deep pockets; we have public opinion, justice, and concern for the future. We urge Californians, and all people concerned about preserving native forests throughout the world, to join in our efforts to pass this initiative. Heritage Tree Preservation Act Signature Deadline: May 31, 2002 for 419,260 valid signatures.


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