September 22, 1997
By SCOTT SONNER
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rep. Bob Smith proposed today shifting $50 million from a Forest Service firefighting fund to pay for removal of dead timber and thinning of overstocked stands of trees from fire-prone national forests.
The plan for "forest recovery" pilot projects would be part of a larger plan to reduce wood fuel loads that agency officials say pose fire risks to tens of millions of acres.
Unlike a controversial salvage logging program a year ago, any timber harvesting would have to comply with all existing environmental laws, said Smith, R-Ore., chairman of the House Agriculture Committee said.
He said his bill introduced in the House today is an attempt to force the Clinton administration to address U.S. forest resources that are "extremely sick and extremely neglected.
"I have heard lots of soothing words from the federal agencies, but haven't seen a sufficient amount of action to back it up," Smith said.
"Words won't cut it. We can't wait any longer."
Forest Service officials had not seen Smith's bill and had no immediate response, an agency spokesman said today.
Backers of the restoration efforts say a century of fire suppression combined with decades of over harvesting native tree species have disrupted natural life cycles, leaving many national forests susceptible to insects, disease and unusually intense fires.
"Especially in Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington, we are facing a holocaust of problems," Smith said in an interview.
"We're operating on very outdated if any inventories. We don't have any direction." he said.
Under his proposal, the Forest Service would be required every five years to rank national forests facing the highest fire risks.
Citizens would have new avenues to petition the federal government for designation of special treatment areas larger than 1,000 acres. If denied, the agriculture secretary would be required to explain why the designation shouldn't occur.
The pilot projects would begin as early as next summer in parts of the Pacific Northwest, interior Columbia Basin, Sierra Nevada mountains, Southern Appalachian mountains and Northern forests of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and New York.
The new Recovery and Protection Fund, administered by the Forest Service chief, would receive a one-time transfer of $50 million from the agency's Wildland Fire Management account.
Money usually spent on roads and trails would help keep the fund afloat in future years until forest recovery projects generated additional revenue.
Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., said he'd introduce companion legislation in the Senate. He said the bill "won't do it all, but it's an excellent beginning."
Texas Rep. Charlie Stenholm, senior Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee and Rep. Larry Combest, R-Texas, chairman of its subcommittee on forestry, endorsed the effort.
"I'm convinced that we can't just watch and wait. We have to act," Combest said.
The bill would force the Forest Service to update its inventory on the health status of national forests and "assign priority rankings to federal forest lands in need of recovery or protection."
Within six months, the agriculture secretary would identify pilot projects for areas that "pose a significant risk of loss to human life and property or serious resource degradation or destruction due to wildfire, disease epidemic, or severe insect infestation."
