Forest Service, bowing to court, embraces Scrooge

I know that this is causing a huge problem with fuel reduction projects. Counties have been looking closely at New Mexico's old Senate Bill 1, which pretty much declares the unmanaged Forests a public nuisance for which the County may order abatement.

In March 2001 the State Legislature passed and Governor
Gary Johnson signed into law what has become commonly known as Senate Bill 1.

Senate Bill 1 confers upon the affected New Mexico Counties, the jurisdiction and authority to remove from the forests in New Mexico the conditions that cause fires in those forests to become infernos that threaten the lives and property of New Mexico citizens.

The reasoning behind the law is simple. It is undeniable that environmental litigation under the Endangered Species Act and complementary mismanagement by the U.S. Forest Service has resulted over the years in excessive forest
overgrowth, undergrowth, and deadfall in our National Forests. When ignited from whatever source (i.e. a tossed cigarette, lightning, or campfire) this unnecessary excessive supply of combustible fuel produces fires of such
catastrophic proportions that they are virtually inextinguishable. Such fires, in turn, threaten the lives and property of New Mexico citizens--a threat to which federal officials in the Forest Service have continuously
turned a blind eye despite repeated pleas that the condition be remedied.

The State of New Mexico determined that to allow this threat to continue to exist was unnecessary and unacceptable. Further, they determined that if a governmental body such as the federal government was found to be derelict in
its duties and obligations to protect citizens in a given state that it fell upon the legislators of that state to fill the jurisdictional void so created and take action to effect a remedy necessary to protect the lives and property of its citizens. The result of those determinations was Senate Bill 1. In its entirety Senate Bill 1 provides as follows:

"An Act"

"RELATING TO DISASTERS; DECLARING A DISASTER IN CERTAIN AREAS OF THE NATIONAL FORESTS IN NEW MEXICO; USING THE POLICE POWER OF THE STATE TO EMPOWER COUNTY BOARDS OF COMMISSIONERS TO TAKE ACTIONS NECESSARY FOR
CLEARING AND THINNING UNDERGROWTH AND FOR REMOVING AND LOGGING FIRE-DAMAGED TREES; DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. FINDINGS - - DECLARATION OF DISASTER - - POWERS OF COUNTY COMMISSIONS -
A. The legislature finds that:

(1) numerous citizens and government officials in the State of New Mexico have repeatedly petitioned the United States Forest Service both collectively and individually at public meetings, by correspondence and by telephone to request that the Forest Service take appropriate action to remove or eliminate the conditions that have created a state of emergency caused by a present risk to the lives and property of citizens in and adjacent to national forests within New Mexico;

(2) all the petitions have for all practical purposes been either ignored or discounted by the United States Forest Service resulting only in what can be reasonably characterized is inaction on the part of the Forest Service to appropriately reduce, if not remove, the risk to the lives and property of the citizens of New Mexico;

(3) because the United States Forest Service has failed to exercise its responsibilities as a sovereign to protect the lives and property of the citizens of New Mexico and because it is a fundamental principle under the laws of any just society that the persistent failure of a sovereign to
fulfill such obligations constitutes grounds for the forfeiture of jurisdictional supremacy, such a forfeiture must hereby be recognized and declared; and

(4) because of recognition and declaration of this forfeiture of jurisdictional supremacy, a jurisdictional vacuum has been created that requires the state of New Mexico to acknowledge its obligations as a sovereign power to protect the lives and property of its citizens and
consequently to authorize any action it presently deems necessary to fill the vacuum created by the federal government by assuming jurisdiction to reduce to acceptable levels, if not remove, the threat of catastrophic fires
posed by present conditions in national forests within its borders.

B. The legislature declares a disaster within those areas of the national forests of New Mexico that suffered severe fire damage, as determined by the local board of county commissioners, where large amounts of forest undergrowth have created the potential for damaging fires in the future. The legislature also declares that the disaster is of such magnitude that the police power of the state should be exercised to the extent necessary to provide the resources and services that will end the disaster and mitigate
its effects.

C. After consulting with the state forester and the regional United States forester, taking surveys, holding those public hearings as may be necessary and developing a plan to mitigate the effects of the disaster, a board of
county commissioners for a county in which a disaster has been declared pursuant to Subsection A of this section may take such actions as are necessary to clear and thin undergrowth and to remove or log fired damaged
trees within the area of the disaster. A county may enter into an agreement with a contractor, licensee or other agent to carry out the purposes of this subsection.

Section 2. EMERGENCY - - It is necessary for the public peace, health and safety that this act take effect immediately."

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