[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 114 (Friday, September 22, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1575-E1576]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




ON THE INTRODUCTION OF A RESOLUTION CALLING ON THE U.S. FOREST SERVICE 
      TO IMPLEMENT A NATIONWIDE COHESIVE FUELS REDUCTION STRATEGY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. GEORGE RADANOVICH

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 22, 2000

  Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce a resolution. 
I do it on behalf of all the people who live near our National Forests 
and want to see a change in the way they are managed.
  As of today, over six and half million acres have burned in the West. 
That's an area larger than the entire state of Maryland.
  This is catastrophic fire--not the beneficial natural kind--but the 
catastrophic. It feeds on brush and trees. It climbs up the ladder of 
fuels into the crowns of the largest old-growth trees, burning 
everything. It kills a forest completely and sterilized the ground.
  Besides the threat to people, these fires kill animals; destroy 
habitat; release huge amounts of air pollution; and leave barren dead 
zones. After the fires are extinguished, the exposed soil and debris 
washes into streams, polluting water and killing fish.
  On Tuesday, a state of emergency was declared in one of the counties 
I represent. Tulare County, California, is now preparing for the 
massive erosion and mudslides that will come from the area of the 
Manter Fire. That fire burned 75,000 acres just east of the new Sequoia 
National Monument. It killed nearly every tree.
  The Administration blames it all on Smokey the Bear. They say the 
problem is the 100-year-old policy of suppressing forest fires. But 
that's only half of the problem.
  In this weekend's radio address, President Clinton blamed ``extreme 
weather and lightning'' that sparked too many fires this summer.
  The Assistant Secretary for Land at the Department of Interior, 
Sylvia Baca, said that, ``Nobody could have predicted the deadly 
combination of drought, wind and lighting in the West this year.''
  But that kind of backward logic ignores the fact that we did know 
about the accumulation of fuel. We know about the millions of acres of 
dying forest.
  We knew there would be a dry spell in the West.
  We knew that a deadly fire season would occur.
  Last April, the General Accounting Office reported to Congress that 
over 39 million acres of our national forests were at high risk of 
catastrophic fire. Another 26 million acres were reported at risk due 
to disease and insect infestation.
  Experts have tagged the overaccumulation of brush and trees as the 
biggest threat facing the western environment.
  Let me say that again--The biggest threat to the western environment.
  Now that biggest threat has become a tragic reality.
  What has the Forest Service done about it? The answer, Mr. Speaker, 
is not much. The only real, aggressive strategy of this Administration 
has been one of deliberate neglect.
  We have before us a roadless policy that will close fifty million 
acres of forest lands.

[[Page E1576]]

  We have a Sierra Nevada Framework that will restrict access to over 
11 million acres of California forest.
  We have the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Plan (ICBEMP) that 
would limit the use of 60 million acres in the northwest.
  Add to that 2 million acres of new national monuments created just 
this year.
  All of these proposals and changes are policies that conflict with, 
rather than complement, a cohesive national fire strategy.
  Mr. Speaker, this year we will spend close to a billion dollars 
fighting catastrophic fires in the West. A lot of that will be 
emergency money tacked on top of the budget. Then next year, we will 
spend hundreds of millions more restoring some of these areas to avoid 
mudslides and erosion. It doesn't have to be this way.
  The bipartisan resolution I am introducing today, with original 
cosponsors from the East, the South and the West, calls on the U.S. 
Forest Service and other land management agencies to create a cohesive 
fuels strategy.
  This resolution is identical to the bill that recently passed the 
California State Assembly. It has strong bipartisan cosponsorship and 
passed on a unanimous vote.
  Similar legislation has been adopted by the State Legislatures in 
Colorado, Idaho and Arizona, also with bipartisan support.
  Our States are calling out for help. Federal forest lands need better 
care. Specifically:
  1. We need a strategy to reduce accumulated fuels. Dense brush cannot 
be burned with prescribed fire until the small trees are removed 
mechanically. A fuels reduction strategy will include both of these 
important tools.
  2. We need a strategy to remove diseased trees. Insects and pathogens 
infect 26 million acres of federal trees and they threaten state and 
private forests nearby. These trees can be removed and used in order to 
improve the overall health of the forest.
  3. And we need to include states, locals and private business in the 
effort. A collaborative approach will ensure that important local 
variations are included in the plans.
  Mr. Speaker, the Forest Service is being pulled in so many directions 
that their mission seems unclear. I want this Congress to give them 
some leadership. The priority should be fuels reduction and forest 
health. These are the highest priority the U.S. Congress has for forest 
management.
  This resolution says clearly that we want such a strategy 
incorporated into new regulatory proposals and that we want locals 
involved.
  This summer, we have witnessed a real tragedy as millions of acres 
burned. But keep in mind that over 57 million acres are still at high 
risk. Not even ten percent of the total has burned this year.
  There is still time to create a strategy and to save what's left. We 
need to protect the Western environment and to protect the people who 
live there.

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