Pearl Jam, R.E.M. and ex-Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell have joined with the Washington Wilderness Coalition to ask for a meeting with Vice President Al Gore to discuss its "deep concern for America's disappearing forests and wild lands."

On Wednesday, the musicians issued the statement requesting an audience with the vice-president, which WWC officials hoped might take place in the fall.

"As musicians," the statement read, "our work reaches millions of young voters through radio, television and live performances across the country, and we feel a sense of responsibility to heighten awareness of the dire state of our National Forests. We urge you to use your power to safeguard our country's unprotected wilderness lands."

The artists also specifically took aim at industrial logging in the Pacific Northwest, an issue that hits home for the artists involved, with the members of Pearl Jam, Cornell and R.E.M.'s Peter Buck all Seattle residents.

In a letter sent from Pearl

Jam to Gore, the band claimed that "with so many roads previously built, with so little of our National Forests left intact, it is time to end the 'chainsaw welfare' tragedy that forces taxpayers to subsidize the destruction of their own National Forests."

The WWC is a coalition of individuals and groups across the country dedicated to "preserving wilderness and biodiversity for the benefit of future generations" via public outreach programs and support for local environmental organizations.