[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 120 (Thursday, September 11, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1737-E1738]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




INTRODUCTION OF COMMUNITY PROTECTION AND HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION ACT 
                                OF 1997

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. HELEN CHENOWETH

                                of idaho

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 11, 1997

  Mrs. CHENOWETH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Community 
Protection and Hazardous Fuels Reduction Act of 1997. Last year, 
wildfires burned over 6 million acres

[[Page E1738]]

and cost nearly $1 billion to fight. Although not the biggest fire 
season ever, that was 1930 when over 52 million acres were scorched, 
the 1996 fire season is regarded by many fire experts as the most 
severe. The reason is population growth and distribution, and the 
intensity of many of the fires occurring throughout the United States.
  These intense fires are now frequently occurring in America's back 
yards. In the early part of the century, a clear delineation existed 
between the urban center and what was considered rural America. This no 
longer exists. Over time, cities have grown into suburbs, and suburbs 
have blended in to what was once considered rural. The complex 
landscape has come to be known as the wildland-urban interface. Forests 
and grasslands are intermixed with housing, businesses, farms, and 
other developments, posing new challenges for fire management and 
suppression.
  The intensity of many of the wildfires witnessed in recent years are 
of a magnitude seldom seen before. These intense fires are the result 
of unnaturally high fuel loads, caused from years of aggressive 
suppression, forest disease, and grossly overstocked stands. This is an 
unhealthy condition that must be properly dealt with now.
  Wildfires resulting from these unnatural fuels buildup not only 
threaten the destruction of communities, putting human life and 
property at risk, they also damage water supplies, destroy fish and 
wildlife habitat, and damage ambient air quality. The damage to the 
soil also substantially reduces the ability of the land to support 
future stands of trees and greatly increases the potential for massive 
soil erosion.
  Regarding the importance of protecting our forests, President Teddy 
Roosevelt, one of our greatest conservationists said this, ``If there 
is any one duty which more than any other we owe it to our children and 
our children's children to perform at once, it is to save the forests 
of this country, for they constitute the first and most important 
element in the conservation of the natural resources of this country.''
  The costs levied on society from wildfire are enormous. Loss of life 
is the ultimate price that we pay, but the human price paid does not 
end there. A lifetime of memories and cherished possessions can be 
incinerated in a matter of minutes. Over 25,000 Californians alone were 
left homeless before the fire season of 1993 had calmed. And in my own 
district, the 8th Street fire burned the foothills of Boise last year, 
causing devastation to human life and property.
  As chairman of the Subcommittee on Forest and Forest Health, I have 
had the opportunity to tour many of our Nation's forests. Several weeks 
ago, Speaker Gingrich, Majority Leader Armey and Majority Whip DeLay 
had the opportunity to witness the devastation that these intense 
wildfires cause due to unnatural levels of fuel.
  I rise today to introduce the Community Protection and Hazardous 
Fuels Reduction Act of 1997 to help mitigate these problems. This bill 
will allow the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management 
[BLM] to issue timber sale contracts in the urban-wildland interface to 
reduce hazardous wildfire fuel buildup. It will also provide the Forest 
Service and BLM with the ability to use revenue generated from these 
sales to reduce noncommercial fuels buildup and conduct other forest 
management projects in the sale area to improve forest health, wildlife 
and fish habitat, riparian areas, streams and water quality, or achieve 
other forest objectives.
  To deal with special problems associated with grass buildup around 
communities, the legislation provides authority so that a country or 
unit of local government can work with the Secretary of Interior or 
Agriculture to properly deal with the potential fire danger from 
excessive levels of grasses and forbs in the wildland-urban interface.
  This bill helps protect forests, fish and wildlife habitat, air 
quality, water quality, as well as its main objective of human life and 
property. In addition to taking care of the fire danger around 
communities, the bill also improves forest health and water quality by 
allowing the use of revenue generated from the authorized sales to be 
used for projects to achieve their objectives.
  I urge my colleague's support for this measure that I am introducing 
today. In light of last year's severe fire season, now is the time to 
properly deal with the unnaturally high fuel loads that lead to fires 
that create most of the environmental damage and expenditures each year 
as well as the loss of human life and property.

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