Bush officials, environmental groups spar over forest policy

Controlled burns (seen here) are one way to remove hazardous fuel in Sequoia National Park. The Bush administration's Healthy Forests Initiative also permits some logging near inhabited areas.

The Bush Administration is sparring with several environmental groups over the Healthy Forests Initiative, or HFI, which the president introduced two years as a wildfire prevention program. Since then, however, several environmental groups have charged that the legislation has opened the door to logging in sensitive areas.

On Aug. 10, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture issued a statement attributing ?EUR??,,????'??Record Fuels Reduction?EUR??,,????'?? to the initiative. The statement touted the removal of ?EUR??,,????'??hazardous fuels?EUR??,,????'?? from more than 2.6 million acres in 2004-with 1.6 million acres treated in the fire-critical ?EUR??,,????'??wildland-urban interface.?EUR??,,????'??

But also on Aug 10, a group calling itself the American Lands Alliance released a report with a different conclusion. It charging that the HFI has led to ?EUR??,,????'??destructive timber sales?EUR??,,????'?? (i.e. logging) ?EUR??,,????'??under the guise of 'fuel reduction' and 'fuel prevention.'?EUR??,,????'?? The second report claims that the administration is pushing for an additional 18 logging projects in 13 states.

The charge echoes recent Sierra Club claims that the Bush administration wants to reintroduce logging to sensitive areas including California's Giant Sequoia National Monument.

The latter charge gets top billing in a recent Sierra Club direct mail campaign, which calls it a ?EUR??,,????'??radical plan that turns the clock back to the destructive logging of the 1980s.?EUR??,,????'??

The picture is revealed to be more complex on the Sierra Club web site, however. Logging in the Sequoia area is limited to so-called ?EUR??,,????'??threat and defense zones?EUR??,,????'?? within 1.5 miles of structures. Logging is restricted to trees 30 inches in diameter, although the Sierra Club says even that opens the door to 7.5 million board feet of lumber, ?EUR??,,????'??enough to fill 1,500 logging trucks?EUR??,,????'?? every year for 10 years.

The Sierra Club cites experts who say that clearing trees around towns only increases fire danger-a contention that other experts dispute. Some measure of clearing is likely to be beneficial given that years of fire suppression have led to a dangerous increase in hazardous fuel.

As with any and all politically-motivated claims, only one thing is sure about this August's war of words over forest policy. The real picture is complex, and anyone who wants a clearer picture will have to do more reading and more research.