AudioPosted on 08/16/2003 11:07:25 AM PDT by Salvation
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 16, 2003
President Discusses Healthy Forests in Weekly Radio Address
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This week, I traveled to Arizona and California to see some of America's forests and parks, and to talk about my commitment to good stewardship of these natural treasures.
On Monday, I visited the Coronado National Forest in Arizona, where wildfires recently consumed thousands of acres of forest and destroyed hundreds of homes. Nearby, I also saw forests that remained largely intact, thanks to wise forest management policy. Fire professionals and forest and park rangers agree, by thinning overgrown forests, we will reduce the risk of catastrophic fire and restore the health of forest ecosystems.
That is the purpose of my Healthy Forest Initiative. We're cutting through bureaucratic red tape to complete urgently needed forest-thinning projects. We are speeding up environmental assessments and consultations required by current law. And we're expediting the administrative appeals process to resolve disputes more quickly. By the end of this fiscal year in September, we will have treated more than 2.6 million acres of overgrowth, more than twice the acreage that was treated in the year 2000.
Under current law, however, litigation often delays projects, while some 190 million acres of forest remain at high risk of dangerous fires, and nearby communities remain vulnerable. So I'm asking Congress to reform the review process for forest projects.
The Healthy Forest Restoration Act would make forest health a high priority when courts are forced to resolve disputes, and it would place reasonable time limits on the litigation process after the public has had an opportunity to comment, and a decision has been made. For the health of America's forests, and for the safety and economic vitality of our communities, the Congress must complete work on this bill. The House has passed the legislation and now the Senate must act.
As we protect America's forests, we must also preserve the beauty of America's nearly 80 million acres of national park land. On Friday, I visited the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in Southern California. It is one of America's 388 national park areas, including historic sites, and battlefields, recreation areas, monuments, and shores. Every one of them is a point of pride for the nation and for local communities.
Yet in the past not all of these sites have been given the attention they require. Some of our national park areas are not in good condition. And for many years, government did not even have the basic information about which places were most in need of repair or restoration. To meet this challenge, I pledge to spend $4.9 billion, over five years, on needed work and maintenance in our national park areas.
With the support of Congress, we're keeping that commitment. In the first two years of my administration, Congress provided nearly $1.8 billion for park maintenance and roads. And my request for the next three budgets will bring total funding for park maintenance and roads to more than $5 billion over five years.
With this funding, we've already undertaken approximately 900 park maintenance projects. This year, the Park Service is working on 500 more projects. And nearly 400 more are planned for next year. As we attend to needed repairs, we're also putting in place a new system of inventory and assessment to assure that America's parks stay in good condition. We have set a new course for our national parks, with better management and renewed investment in the care and protection. After all, the parks belong to the people.
I look forward to traveling next week to Oregon and Washington state, and I will be carrying the same message: Our system of national parks and forests is a trust given to every generation of Americans. By practicing good management and being faithful stewards of the land, our generation can show that we're worthy of that trust.
Thank you for listening.
END
However, a good friend of mine got to meet him; she runs the new Republican Headquarters in the Hispanic section.
The enviros are so off-base in their criticisms and I hope the people will finally wake up to their agenda, which has ZERO to do with the environment.
I guess you don't believe in painting your house either, right? That land belongs to all of us and it needs to be maintained properly. It's not only our responsibility, it's a point of pride that we do it. IT'S OURS!!!!
If I paint my house, I pay for it. That's the difference between private property and public (i.e., government) property. Why does it make sense to you to have citizens in Hawaii pay for the maintenance of forests in Colorado or California? And where in the Constitution is the federal government authorized to control our nation's forests? If the feds had any sense, they would turn control of these parks and forests to their respective states.
It's easy spending someone else's money.
Yeah, but doesn't the fact that a Republican is spending your money make you feel all warm and squishy inside?
Oh, what precious sentiment. I feel all happy and patriotic about it. BTW, I need a new paintjob on my car. When are you going to be heading over to have it done for me and pay for it to boot?
Stressed by a long drought, bark beetles attacked. I don't think a square inch of ground is visible, the trees are so thick.
Driving the highway, south of Mormon Lake (which is now dry & Lake Mary is very low), however, it's a different scene. Where logging is obvious, the standing trees are green and healthy. Loggers didn't leave a mess for the government to clean up.
In the national forests, though, dead trees close to the highway have created an unsightly mess, not to mention possible, probable hazards. A handful of workers clearing out a few dead trees and debris around Pine & Strawberry is a "drop in the bucket," as the mountains around those small towns are a disaster waiting to happen.
Most people think Arizona is all desert. It may be one of these days.
Sounds like you're one of those "free spirits" who believe everything should be free. Well, it doesn't work that way. Anything worth having is worth working for, that includes the vast expanses of this country that WE are responsible for. That's why we have to have fire roads, we have to allow proper thinning of the forests, and we have to return to allowing grazing rights since that clears the underbrush.
Too bad about your car, you really should take better care of things, but then, it's yours to do with as you please. You can even go around looking like a pig because you haven't bothered to maintain the paint job.
Well I agree that it should be a states issue, but it isn't because we elect morons who don't know a thing about the constitution. In the meantime, the law says it's the government resposibility to maintain the land in the national trust. Our first responsiblity is to elect people smart enough to pass a law that returns public trust land to the states, but our second responsibility is to turn that land back in proper condition. Unless we do, all we'll be turning back is blackened stumps.
Well I don't think Mr. Jones down the street is going to be happy when I set up shop on his land (it'll probably be annexed by the national government sooner or later anyway), but I'll just tell him McGavin999 said it's alright....
Look, I do not think I should have to pay for what's done out in Colorado or Wyoming. Let the people of Colorado or Wyoming pay for it through their state legislature. But the amount of land that has been 'set aside' by the federal government for 'future generations' is getting to be obscene. And I don't think someone in the Southeast should be paying for the upkeep of land in the far west. Sorry you have a problem with that, but it's not the business of the national government
Too bad about your car, you really should take better care of things, but then, it's yours to do with as you please. You can even go around looking like a pig because you haven't bothered to maintain the paint job.
Wow, thanks for assuming I'm a pig. It's a r-e-s-t-o-r-a-t-i-o-n project, not a piece of junk. And I would probably be a lot further down the road on finishing it if so much of my money was not stolen out of my pocket from the national government to pay for tree care in Nebraska or AIDS in Africa
Last year we had two of the largest fires in the country (this is a state that can't spare the little greenery we have) and hundreds of people lost their homes as a direct result of government policy. This year we had another huge fire in the southern portion of the state and it burned down most of the most beautiful countryside on the planet.
The land should be in the hands of the state, but it's not. If the government is going to take land, it has a responsibility to maintain it and if it's public parks land then we all have to pay.
You don't want to pay, then raise your own army, be sure not to drive that car you're restoring on any public highways, if your house catches on fire, you best have a good sturdy garden hose, after all, someone who won't contribute to the general wellbeing should be perfectly willing to make do for himself. Good luck.
If it was Slick, I'd be wondering what/who he was covering up with that dirt.
I'm not old enough to remeber such a fire....and probably, neither are you. You see, those companies have a "real" interest in maintining and protecting their land.
The only interest the gubment and envirals have is keeping themselves in power and in order to do that there must be a constant state of environmental emergency.
If it were otherwise, (and they were sucessfull in their efforts to save the land) they would become obsolete. Therefore, logically, they must destroy what they proclaim to protect in order to maintain their positions. Sick aint it?
LOL!!!!!
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
Already did, post 35.
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