Over the last year, the Earth First! Journal has run numerous articles about the Muir Society, a nationwide coalition of Sierra Club members working to restore Muir's vision, passion and strength to the Sierra Club (Earth First! Journal, Mabon 1994 and Eostar 1995).
In the spring of this year, David Brower and Dave Foreman were elected to the Sierra Club Board of Directors. The Muir Society hoped to garner Brower's and Foreman's support for a central component of their campaign: an official Club policy of Zero Cut--the prohibition of commercial timber harvest on public lands. Reprinted here, with the authors' permission, are excerpts of letters written by Brower and Foreman explaining why they cannot, at this time, support a policy of Zero Cut for the Sierra Club. Following their letters are responses from both Muir Society members and other Zero Cut proponents.
It is important to note that Brower and Foreman composed the following as personal correspondence to Muir Society members. These excerpts were not intended as formal essays; any gaps in continuity may be blamed on the editors. The Journal editorial staff feels discussions of strategies such as Zero Cut are important, and hope to continue such discussions in future issues.