Free Republic

The U.S. Forest Service has not developed national guidelines to assess the risks communities face from wildfires and is unable to ensure that the most important fire prevention projects are funded first, an independent government audit has found. And while the majority of catastrophic wildfires occur in the West, nearly 58 percent of the total acres treated in fiscal year 2004 were in the southeastern states, the report said. "The Forest Service cannot clearly identify the level of risk to communities from wildfire," it said. "It cannot demonstrate to stakeholders its accomplishments in reducing those risks with the funds provided."...

Logging trucks are again rumbling through town after a nearly 15-year hiatus. The Forest Service has reopened - or has plans to reopen - numerous drainages south of Eagle Ranch to logging... There are currently two active sales south of Eagle, with another in the works, said Cary Green, the White River National Forest's timber management assistant for the Eagle area. The 60-acre Beecher Gulch salvage timber sale, on Hardscrabble Mountain, sold in 2005, and about 500,000 board feet of timber is currently being harvested... A typical 2,000-square foot, single-family home requires about 27,000 board feet of framing lumber, paneling...

Federal officials on Friday were tracking 60 large, active fires that were burning more than 1 million acres, or more than 1,500 square miles, across the West. The states in the region with the most number of fires included Idaho, Nevada, and Montana, according to the Web site of the Boise-based National Interagency Fire Center, composed of various federal agencies that coordinate to battle wildfires. In Idaho, fires had burned more than 231,000 acres, or 360 square miles, the center reported. State officials toured fire camps to survey the damage -- as well as to tell federal firefighting crews here,...

RENO, Nev. (AP) - Sen. John Kerry's criticism of increasing logging in national forests to ease wildfire threats shows how badly his brand of environmentalism is out of step with most Westerners, the Bush-Cheney campaign said Wednesday. Kerry's campaign countered that the Bush administration's forest policy is aimed more at bolstering timber industry profits than protecting communities from fires. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said President Bush has failed to provide money necessary to remove small trees and underbrush that has built up near communities in the Sierra and around Lake Tahoe. "I thought the president would live up to his...

Speech before U.S. Senate by Senator Jon Kyl, R-Az, Sept. 17 2002 Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I would like to speak directly to the issues raised both by the majority leader and the Senator from Montana; specifically, with respect to how we are going to resolve issues related to the health of our forests. I know the discussion has greatly focused on fires and the catastrophic results of fires this year. I am going to talk about that to a great extent. But I would like to make a point at the very beginning which I hope we don't...

Last Update:8:30 a.m. (MDT); August 27, 2002   Six fires reported for yesterday.  Three fires reported by the State of Arizona, two fires on Santa Fe NF, and one fire on Fort Apache Reservation.  One new large fire (i.e. fires >100 acres), LAKES FIRE on Santa Fe NF.   ARIZONAPACK RAT FIRE, located along the Mogollon Rim, 15 miles north of Payson, AZ, is now over 1,210 acres.  Burning in mixed conifer and chaparral on Coconino and Tonto National Forest's, the fire became very active yesterday with increased torching, spotting, and upslope runs.  A number of spot fires were found across...

<p>"While visiting the west coast this week, I saw the destructive effects of one of the worst wildfire seasons in history," Bush said in his weekly radio address.</p> <p>"As we work to put out the fires and bring relief to their victims, we also have a responsibility to prevent the devastation that can be caused by future fires," he added.</p> <p>Bush said U.S. forest policy needed to focus on thinning out trees to reduce the incidence and damage from wildfires. He characterized the current U.S. forest policy as a, "hands-off approach" that was "devastating to our environment."</p>

August 22, 2002 President Announces Healthy Forest Initiative Remarks by the President on Forest Health and Preservation The Compton Arena Central Point, Oregon Master of ceremonies was Lars Larson with KXL, Portland. Senator Gordon Smith introduced the President of the United States. 12:54 P.M. PDT (YES! He was on time -- no 2 hour haircut holding up the airlines!) THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much for coming. Thanks for -- please be seated, unless of course you don't have a chair. (Laughter.) Thanks for that. Thank you all for such a warm welcome. It's such an honor to be...

Bush expected to promote new forest policy 08/21/02MICHAEL MILSTEIN and JIM BARNETT When he speaks Thursday in Medford, President Bush is expected to push for more intensive thinning of Western forests to reduce fire danger. And he will likely support legislation streamlining environmental rules that have slowed many Western logging projects. It will plainly signal the administration's approach to forest management against the backdrop of epic wildfires burning throughout Oregon and the West.It could also incite a storm of opposition from environmental groups that argue logging only will do more harm to Western forests. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said Tuesday...