[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 117 (Thursday, August 18, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 18, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                     TRIBUTE TO SEBASTIAN MINABERRI

                                 ______


                         HON. WILLIAM M. THOMAS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, August 18, 1994

  Mr. THOMAS of California. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this 
opportunity to pay tribute to a Kern County, CA, resident, Mr. 
Sebastian MInaberri. Mr. Minaberri, a French immigrant, has helped 
tackle a complicated problem by using a little common sense.
  As we in California know all too well, fires in the dry forest of the 
Los Angeles basin are common--and destructive. Solutions to reduce the 
number and intensity of the fires are difficult to come by. But Mr. 
Minaberri is contributing to a solution with a low-cost, low-technology 
answer that is proving successful. You see, Mr. Minaberri is a 
successful sheep farmer. And by simply grazing his sheep on ridge-top 
firebreaks, Mr. Minaberri's sheep keep the grasses and brush low, 
thereby denying fires fuel and thus an opportunity to spread from 
mountain to mountain.
  These firefighting sheep benefit just about everyone, sheep included. 
They are cheaper than machinery, far better for the environment than 
herbicides, and they help protect the residents of communities 
threatened by uncontrolled brush fires. In addition, according to Mr. 
Minaberri, the sheep ``thrive better in the cooler temperatures of the 
national forests'' than they would in the 100-degree-plus heat of the 
lower altitudes.
  For his contribution to reducing the number of fires in the LA Basin 
my hat goes off to Mr. Sebastian Minaberri--an American success story, 
and a practitioner of one of our greatest arts--common sense.

                          ____________________