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ST. LOUIS NEWS TODAY - Sunday, November 2, 2003
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Arch Coal, Inc. recently received the 2002 Excellence in Surface Mining Award for their excellence in transforming mine lands into a mix of lakes, farmland, wetlands, and forests. Formerly, this Arch of Illinois mine site was the largest surface mine east of the Mississippi. Now, the reclaimed land is part of Pyramid State Park, the largest state park in Illinois. (PRNewsFoto)
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Senate Passes Healthy Forests Bill
Compiled by SLFP.com staff
ST. LOUIS, (SLFP.com), November 2, 2003 - Federal land managers estimate that 190 million acres of Federal forest land are at unnaturally high risk of catastrophic wildfires and large-scale insect and disease outbreaks because of unhealthy forest conditions.
In 2002, more than 7.2 million acres burned; these fires resulted in the deaths of 23 firefighters, drove tens of thousands of people from their homes, and destroyed 2,000 buildings. Oregon, Arizona, and Colorado experienced the largest wildfires in their histories, causing damage to air quality, water quality, and wildlife habitat in these states and beyond.
Recently, six massive wildfires in California left 20 dead, consumed 690,967 acres and destroyed 3,346 homes since October 24 and causing tens of thousands to evacuate.
The immediate cause of these wildfires is the long-term drought conditions in the Western United States, but the underlying cause is the buildup of forest fuels that has taken place over the last century. Where there were 50 trees or fewer per acre in the past, many areas have become choked with dense stands of 1,000 trees and shrubs and underbrush, meaning the larger trees must compete for limited water and nutrients, and become susceptible to insects and disease. Such an environment is conducive to unnaturally intense wildfires.
On October 29, Missouri Senator Kit Bond spoke on the Senate floor urging passage of the bipartisan Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HR 1904).
Bond stated on the Senate floor that "The conditions in our nation's forests are terrible. Good forest management is long overdue and the time to act is now."
The Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HR 1904) was introduced on May 1, 2003 by Representatives McInnis and Walden. The purpose of the bill is: To improve the capacity of the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior to plan and conduct hazardous fuels reduction projects on National Forest System lands and Bureau of Land Management lands aimed at protecting communities, watersheds, and certain other at-risk lands from catastrophic wildfire, to enhance efforts to protect watersheds and address threats to forest and rangeland health, including catastrophic wildfire, across the landscape, and for other purposes.
The House passed its version of H.R. 1904 on May 20, 2003, by a vote of 256-170.
Bond stressed that due to a lack of active forest management Missouri forests face potential catastrophic wildfire. This problem need's immediate action, otherwise many of America's most pristine forests are at risk to wildfire devastation.
"The dead limbs and debris that plague Missouri forests reduce food for wildlife and contribute to fuels buildups, which increases the dangers of wildfires. In turn, these wildfires endanger wildlife habitat areas, healthy watersheds and neighboring private lands. Missouri in particular has huge volume of dying forest land throughout southern Missouri as a result of infestation by an insect known as the red oak stem bore."
"The bipartisan Healthy Forests legislation being debated in the Senate today would cut through unnecessary red tape and speed up the review and approval process for forest health restoration projects, while at the same time preserving the appropriate environmental review process. The expedited reduction of forest fuels and the thinning of underbrush would greatly improve the health of Missouri's forests. There has been a significant increase in the buildup of these fuels in National and State Forest land in the state of Missouri as a result of recent tornados, several years of drought, oak decline and oak mortality."
Bond warned of the potential devastation, "Once these areas are destroyed by fire, there will be very little, if anything, that we can do to restore them to health. It is time to put some common sense back into forest management."
The Senate passed its version of H.R. 1904 with an amendment on October 30, 2003, by a vote of 80-14.
In a statement, President George Bush commended the Senate for passing the Healthy Forests Restoration Act. "The bipartisan support for this commonsense legislation demonstrates that we are united in our goal of returning our Nation's forests to health by eliminating unnatural overgrowth and promoting early community involvement in forest management planning."
"Restoring forest health is important to the safety of our communities and to the protection of wildlife, endangered species, water supplies, and forest resources. I urge the House and Senate to quickly resolve the differences in their bills so that I can sign this important legislation and we can fully implement my Healthy Forests Initiative," stated the President.
Michael V Draper, vice president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters' Western Region and chairman, Forest Products Industry National Labor Management Committee also issued a statement: "The unions of the Forest Products Industry National Labor Management Committee applaud the Senate's passage of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act. Today's action continues to show that a broad, bipartisan group of legislators support active management of America's public forests based on science, not emotions and lawsuits."
"We especially want to thank Senators Cochran, Craig, Domenici, Feinstein, Lincoln, Wyden and the others that developed the bipartisan compromise amendment that led to today's vote."
"Between catastrophic wildfires in the West and the ongoing problems with various insects and diseases in the South and Great Lakes, we have learned the painful lesson that the current forest management system causes more harm than good," continued Draper.
"Although fire and bugs are a fact of life in our national forests, a more aggressive thinning and pest control program will lessen their negative effect. More importantly for many of our 1.5 million members, since fire and bugs don't respect boundaries, today's vote is a step toward protecting the private lands that are adjacent our national forests. Passage of this legislation will lead to job security for forest-dependent communities and families," stated Draper.
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