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Smokey the bear was wrong { August 21 2000 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60955-2000Aug20.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60955-2000Aug20.html http://www.wildrockiesalliance.org/issues/wildfire/washpost.html Smokey the Bear Was Wrong Monday, August 21, 2000; Page A20 THIS SUMMER'S raging wildfires are throwing off political heat as well, with some Westerners blaming the mammoth blazes on reductions in timber harvesting under the Clinton administration. The not-so-subtle message is that a policy tilted too far toward environmentalists left the West vulnerable to disaster. But before this year's devastating fires are used as a wedge to ratchet up commercial logging on public lands, a few points need to be remembered. Nearly 40 million acres in the West are judged to be at risk of catastrophic fire. The biggest culprit in creating these conditions is a decades-old policy of putting out fires on public lands. Only in recent years has it been recognized that this policy upset a natural system of fairly frequent small fires that cleared out underbrush and small trees without undue damage to bigger ones. Squelching those natural fires allowed a potentially explosive buildup of small trees and underbrush; those conditions combined with this year's extreme weather to set off the chain of fires that so far has consumed roughly 4 million acres of forest and rangeland. Reducing the catastrophic fire risk over all the affected areas is an overwhelming task. The Forest Service proposes to focus efforts on the areas known as "urban-wildland interface," where cities or suburbs are adjacent to wildland areas or where people and houses are scattered through wildland areas. The agency wants to thin overgrown vegetation and use deliberately set fires--the "prescribed burns" that became infamous this summer when one roared out of control near Los Alamos--to bring forests back to a healthier level of density. "Thinning" sounds a lot like logging, but there is an important difference. Most of the material that should be removed for fire prevention is too small to be useful in commercial logging. In many cases the agency simply has to pay contractors to cut down the smaller trees and brush and haul them out. Doing this on a big enough scale to make a dent in the problem will be an expensive undertaking. There may be a role for standard commercial timber harvesting in some areas, but as the General Accounting Office pointed out in a report last year, lands with commercially valuable timber are often not those with the greatest wildfire dangers. Forest Service officials say that removing the bigger trees valuable for lumber can increase fire danger by taking away the canopy that shades the forest floor and leaving behind piles of brush and debris that can help feed a blaze. Congress and the administration will have to consider, in light of this summer's experience, whether more needs to be done faster and how that effort will be funded. Emergency funds for reducing fire hazards are pending before Congress, and the White House has asked the secretaries of interior and agriculture for a report in September on steps to cut risk and ensure sufficient firefighting resources in the future. Everyone acknowledges that the fire-squelching philosophy of past decades has contributed to the problem. But the current debate on next steps ought to proceed coolly, with a careful eye to addressing the most urgent needs, not with a view to settling old scores between environmentalists and the timber industry. © 2000 The Washington Post Company

belize Apes jungles { September 4 2002 } Apes will be extinct in a generation { September 1 2005 } Arizona wild fires { June 22 2003 } Arnolds epa pick critical bush healthy forest initiative { November 14 2003 } Arson suspected in most of 10 fires { October 29 2003 } Burning [jpg] Bush says kindling causes forest fires { December 3 2003 } Bush seeks shifts in logging rules { July 13 2004 } Bush to gut roadless rule { June 10 2003 } Cattle grazing causing more extensive rainforest damage { October 21 2005 } Deforestation paves way in brazil { January 8 2005 } Denies natural cycles { May 24 2003 } Ease logging { August 22 2002 } Ethanol will destroy rainforests Excuse to log { June 19 2003 } Federal judge overturns roadless ban Forests pay the price for biofuels Governor says roadless unlawful { August 20 2003 } House passes bill to speed post fire timber sales { May 18 2006 } House passes forest thinning bill { May 20 2003 } In the line of fire Judge roadless accused ethics violation Jungles disappear 30yrs Logging forest fires New forest rules help loggers { December 23 2004 } Non burned undergrowth threat People use 83pc { October 23 2002 } Rainforest destruction { June 25 2001 } Roadless plan upheld San bernardino wild fires { October 26 2003 } Smokey bear revamps fire message Smokey the bear was wrong { August 21 2000 } Wild fires then ice storms { November 14 2003 } Files Listed: 33

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