The following is a copy of a letter to Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Rep. George Whitesides, D-Agua Dulce.
I have been concerned about legislation that the administration has put forth, called the “Fix Our Forests” bill, which targets monumental public lands and various forests with rescuing our lands from wildfires and related threats according to the administration’s explanation of the bill, without scientific research to back up the emergency.
It is an attempt at securing and exploiting our beautiful natural landscapes (and would result in) the continued extinctions of wildlife that our planet has been experiencing over the past five decades due to global warming and habitat loss. Corporate oil executives, mining corporations and logging companies would benefit by deepening their pockets.
The proposal to exploit our resources on federal lands, national parks and national monuments goes beyond what any bipartisan official, as well as fellow Americans, Democrat and Republican, would want to see happen to our cherished lands and species.
(I am) a professional wildlife photographer and docent naturalist at Placerita Canyon Nature Center who loves the wild lands and its inhabitants that I have been so lucky to have seen, experienced and photographed of their beauty and behavior in their beautiful habitat that they require to survive and thrive. I would be devastated as a hiker, naturalist and lover of wildlife to lose our precious landscapes and our fellow animal species.
Conservationists, environmentalists, wildlife and nature photographers, scientists and biologists, as well as wildlife rescuers, have worked so hard to preserve those spaces, as well as wildlife, for future generations to enjoy, as well as profit from the funding that is generated from those national parks and monumental lands, which benefit the economy as those lands and wild animals bring enjoyment of our natural world to the American people of every age, nationality, religion, race, gender and so forth.
I am asking, please, to raise your voices to defend our national lands and wildlife species in the Mt. Pinos (area), Santa Monica Mountains and Ventura County that are being targeted for exploitation in the bill. It won’t end there.
Yesterday, I had the unbelievable enjoyment of hiking to the summit at Mt. Pinos, and losing that land would be a profound loss in every respect, as well as the wildlife that inhabits Mt. Pinos. Thank you for hearing my concerns and fears.
Jayme Sun Thomas
Saugus
