Bush signs bill, hopes it will curb nation's wildfires
Robert Gehrke
Associated Press
Dec. 4, 2003 12:00 AM
WASHINGTON - More timber and brush can be cut and cleared with less environmental scrutiny under a law President Bush signed Wednesday. He said the initiative will help protect communities from devastating wildfires.
"This law will not prevent every fire, but it is an important step forward, a vital step to make sure we do our duty to protect our nation's forests," said Bush, who stood before rows of wildland firefighters. "We'll help save lives and property, and we'll help protect our forests from sudden and needless destruction."
The Healthy Forests Restoration Act is the first major forest management legislation in a quarter-century. It seeks to speed the harvesting of trees in overgrown woodlands and insect-infested trees on 20 million acres of federal forest land most at risk to wildfires.
It does that by scaling back required environmental studies. Also, it limits appeals and directs judges to act quickly on legal challenges to logging plans.
Critics said the bill would let companies cut down large old-growth trees in the name of fire prevention.
"There's a real danger that the president's pen might as well be a chain saw," said Amy Mall, a forestry specialist with the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., sponsor of the legislation, said those complaints come groups out of touch with the mainstream.
"Of course when you thin out forests you're going to have logging. You're going to have to," he said. "But people want these forests managed. People want the science used."
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said language added to Bush's initial proposal will protect old-growth and large-diameter trees.
Legislation aimed at speeding decisions on where to allow timbering in national forests had languished in Congress for three years until the recent fires in California, which burned 750,000 acres and destroyed 3,640 houses, forced a compromise.
Despite the California fires, 2003 was a below-average fire year, with 3.8 million acres burned so far. Twenty-eight firefighters died battling the blazes, according to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation. Nearly 7 million acres were charred last year.
The Bush administration estimates that 190 million acres are at heightened risk for a severe wildfire; that's an area the size of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming combined.
Dennis 
