[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 43 (Thursday, April 6, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S3235]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SALAZAR:
  S. 2584. A bill to amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 
to help reduce the increased risk of severe wildfires to communities in 
forested areas affected by infestations of bark beetles and other 
insects, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources.
  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about S. 2584, 
``The Rocky Mountain Forest Insects Response Enhancement and Support 
Act,'' or ``Rocky Mountain FIRES Act,'' which I introduced earlier 
today.
  I am introducing this bill because we are facing an extremely 
dangerous wildfire situation in the West, including my home State of 
Colorado, maybe worse than we have ever faced.
  Below-average snowfalls, protracted drought, and a massive bark 
beetle infestation have created fuel loads that threaten forest health, 
property, and human life. I fear that we are facing a perfect storm of 
conditions for devastating fires this summer in Colorado.
  The southern half of Colorado, and much of the Southwest, has been 
hit by yet another year of below-average precipitation. With the 
exception of a few areas in Colorado's northern mountains, 
precipitation levels this winter were 25-50 percent of average. 
Colorado is now in its 7th consecutive year of drought.
  This drought has been so severe and so long that even the healthiest 
trees have become fuel for disease, fire, and insect infestations.
  Mr. President, the bark beetle, a pest that normally kills only a few 
weak trees in a stand, has fed off entire forests of drought-weakened 
trees. It is a plague that is sweeping through the Rockies.
  The bark beetle problem in Colorado is of unprecedented magnitude. 
The infestation is killing trees over hundreds of thousands of acres, 
leaving huge, dry fuel loads in its wake.
  Across the State, but particularly in the Arapaho National Forest in 
northern Colorado, bark beetles are turning entire forests into brown, 
dead stands. In 2004, bark beetles killed an estimated 7 million trees 
over 1.5 million acres in Colorado.
  When you see pictures that show the stands that have been hit by the 
bark beetle, you can see why people who live nearby are so concerned. 
You can imagine what a fire would look like if it got into a stand of 
beetle-infested timber--it would jump from crown to crown, racing up 
ridges and through the forest faster than we could respond.
  Beetle-kill stands are everywhere in Grand County and Larimer County, 
Summit and Eagle, Saguache and San Miguel. They are increasingly 
visible in pockets along the Front Range, among houses and communities 
in the wildland-urban interface.
  The areas with smaller outbreaks, like those in the Pike National 
Forest and the Gunnison National Forest, are just as worrisome as the 
massive outbreaks in northern Colorado. When we see even a handful of 
beetle-kill trees, it usually means that the insects are already 
attacking the surrounding trees.
  Private land owners and local governments are doing all they can to 
combat this problem--they are using their chainsaws to protect their 
homes, they are spraying trees, and they are devising protection plans. 
They wonder, though, if they aren't alone in this fight. They wonder if 
the Federal Government is asleep at the wheel in the face of potential 
disaster.
  The people who see the browned-out, dead forests from their kitchen 
windows wonder why Washington isn't moving faster to curb this 
onslaught on our public lands--why is the government not clearing out 
the dead trees, creating buffers to prevent the beetle from spreading, 
or providing more resources and expertise to help local communities 
protect themselves?
  I have pressed Secretary Johanns to find funds to deal with this 
emergency in Colorado and across the West. At the current budget 
levels, we are simply not able to curb the bark beetle problem and 
prepare for the upcoming fire season. We could be treating 2 or 3 times 
as many acres this year if we only had adequate funds.
  We must also give local communities and land managers the tools they 
need to combat the bark beetle infestation. That is what S2584, the 
``Rocky Mountain Fires Act,'' will do.
  My bill will facilitate a swifter response by the Forest Service and 
BLM to widespread insect infestations in our forests; provide 
additional money to communities that are preparing or revising their 
wildfire protection plans; make grant funding available for enterprises 
that use woody biomass for energy production and other commercial 
purposes, so that we can put beetle-kill trees and wood from hazard 
fuels-reduction projects to good use; and allow the Forest Service and 
the BLM to award stewardship contracts to nearby landowners, so that 
residents can do hazard fuels reduction on federal lands to protect 
their homes.
  Coloradans are anxious for Congress to take action on the bark beetle 
issue because they know the dangers they face. They remember the fire 
storms of 2002, when the Hayman Fire burned 138,000 acres on the Front 
Range, the Missonary Ridge Fire burned 70,000 acres near Durango, and 
scores of other fires across the State chewed up resources and claimed 
property and lives.
  This year could be as bad, or worse, if we don't take action right 
now.
  We must find funds or provide emergency funding so that we can gear 
up for the fire season. We must also pass bark beetle legislation that 
gives communities and land managers the tools they need to protect 
property and lives.
  We must take action right now. As I am reminded by the reports of 
fires in Colorado just this past week: this summer's fire season is 
already upon us.
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