[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 72 (Tuesday, May 21, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S5454]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          UNNATURAL CONDITIONS SET STAGE FOR NATURAL DISASTER

 Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I ask that the following newspaper 
article be printed in the Congressional Record.
  The article follows:

          Unnatural Conditions Set Stage for Natural Disaster

                    [From the Tribune, May 17, 1996]

                            (By Sherry Boss)

       Flagstaff--Peter Fule walks through the past and finds 
     comfort there.
       He is safe in a stand of 400-year-old ponderosas. Wildfire 
     is unlikely to touch this 8 acres of forest north of 
     Flagstaff. Fule and his colleagues have restored it to the 
     way it was in 1876 in hopes of learning a lesson.
       The wind is gusty here and rain a stranger--perfect 
     conditions for a sweeping blaze like the one that ravaged 
     61,000 acres at Four Peaks this month.
       But unlike most of Arizona's forests this one is not a 
     tinderbox at the mercy of a cigarette butt or car engine 
     spark, said Fule, a senior research specialist at Northern 
     Arizona University's School of Forestry.
       The grass under Fule's feet and the ample distance between 
     trees in peace of mind.
       One day in 1994, students and employees for NAU, the U.S. 
     Forest Service and the logging industry sawed down more than 
     7,000 new trees in the Fort Valley Experimental Forest, short 
     eight miles north of Flagstaff. All that remains now are the 
     480 pines that were standing in pre-settlement days. Workers 
     brought the density down from more than 1,000 trees per acre 
     to 62--closer to the way it was before cattle disturbed the 
     forest's ecosystem.
       ``It was a neat feeling to see this being done and see the 
     new forest emerging,'' Fule said.
       If lightning were strike here now, short flames would creep 
     along the forest floor. The fire would consume grass, twigs 
     and pine needle litter. The flames would singe tree trunks, 
     but wouldn't get hot enough to kill the towering pines. Then, 
     when there was no grass left to burn, the flames would go 
     out.
       That's the way it was for hundreds of years. Fire was 
     friendly to the forest, Fule said. It cleared out scraggly 
     brush and new saplings every few years, allowing the older 
     trees to thrive without competition for water and light.
       But this is the forest of the past.
       Today, national forests like Arizona's Coconino, Kaibab and 
     Apache-Sitgreaves are much different places. They're so dense 
     with spindly young pines, forestry experts call the cluster 
     of trees ``dog-hair ticktets.''
       Fire in those tickets equals almost certain destruction. 
     The trees of different sizes form stair steps for the fire to 
     climb to the largest pines.
       That's why, forestry experts say, Arizona is at risk of the 
     worst wildfires this millenium.
       Never before has there been such accumulation of fire fuel. 
     Add to that some of the driest weather in recorded history 
     and the danger is extreme.
       Years of ecological disturbance have brought the West's 
     forests to this point, Fule said.
       The trouble started in Arizona in 1883 when the 
     transcontinental railroad was finished. The state was 
     connected. People arrived. They brought cows.
       The lush grass and wildflowers on the forest floors were 
     perfect for grazing. Cows ate to the bare ground.
       With the grass gone, the fires stopped. When pines dropped 
     their seeds, they took root. The trees grew in thick, but not 
     very big. There wasn't enough water for any one tree to 
     thrive. Now, when a spark hits the thickets, the world forest 
     is doomed.
       ``If a fire came through this year, this tree would almost 
     certainly die,'' Fule said of a ponderosa that has stood for 
     at least 300 years. ``Not only this one, but all its 
     neighbors.''
       What took hundreds of years for nature to build could be 
     destroyed in minutes, he said.
       For most of this century, the U.S. Forest Service's policy 
     was to put out fires. Fule said. That policy interrupted 
     nature's long-term plans, he said.
       ``People have always wanted to control nature and remake it 
     for human needs and human goals,'' he said.
       Years of fire suppression policy led to the devastating 
     Lone fire at four Peaks 35 miles east of Phoenix, said Julie 
     Stromberg, associate research professor at Arizona State 
     University's Center for Environmental Studies. Fires have 
     been put out as soon as they start, allowing the vegetation 
     to accumulate.
       ``If you don't do frequent burns or controlled burns, 
     you're going to have a catastrophic fire,'' Stromberg said.
       The problem isn't easily solved now. It's too late to let 
     nature take its course, Fule said. There's no choice but to 
     put out forest fires, he said.
       ``If all the fire crews walked away, by tomorrow, the whole 
     state would be in flames,'' he said.
       Fule hopes the solution lies in a combination of cutting 
     and burning.
       Official will start a fire every three years in the 
     cleared-out experimental forest to imitate the natural fire 
     cycle that occurred between 1630 and 1876.
       A similar cut-and-burn project is under way on a larger 
     scale at Mount Turmbull on 3,700 acres north of the Grand 
     Canyon.
       But thinning out the forest is controversial. Some people 
     are so accustomed to thick forests, they believe that's the 
     way they should be. Some are partial to the kinds of wildlife 
     the thickets attract, too.
       But as the Lone fire proved, nature has a vengeance when 
     it's disturbed.
       ``The natural area (becomes) so unnatural in its density 
     and fuel accumulation, it begins to present a hazard,'' Fule 
     said.

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