[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 98 (Monday, July 24, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S8124]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS POTENTIAL IMPACT ON WILDFIRES

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, wildfires have already burned almost 300,000 
acres in Nevada this year, and over 1.7 million acres were destroyed by 
fire last year. One particularly devastating fire last year burned over 
500,000 acres in southern Nevada.
  Well-established science indicates small, normally occurring 
wildfires are part of the healthy life-cycle of forests. Large, 
catastrophic fires, though, can sometimes cause extreme and 
irreversible damage to the delicate ecosystems in the West.
  People in Nevada have always been concerned about wildfires and their 
ability to destroy homes, businesses, and our State's natural beauty. 
Recently, though, Nevadans and people throughout the West have begun to 
notice and ask questions about the dramatic changes in wildfire 
intensity and frequency.
  The Congressional Research Service has concluded that many factors 
contribute to the threat of wildfires. These factors include 
unnaturally high fuel loads, the urban-wildland interface, the increase 
of invasive plant species, unnatural wildfire suppression, and grazing 
and logging practices.
  A recent scholarly article titled ``Warming and Earlier Spring 
Increases Western U.S. Forest Wildfire Activity'' published online on 
July 6, 2006, in the Journal of Science focuses on the previously 
unexplored correlation between climate change and wildfires. The 
article found that the frequency and intensity of wildfires in the West 
are growing as the climate gets hotter.
  Two of the most telling parts of the article found that ``robust 
statistical associations between wildfire and hydro-climate in western 
forests indicate that increased wildfire activity over recent decades 
reflects subregional responses to changes in climate.'' In addition, 
the authors assert that ``large increases in wildfire driven by 
increased temperatures and earlier spring snowmelts in forests where 
land use history had little impact on fire risks indicates that 
ecological restoration and fuels management alone will not be 
sufficient to reverse current wildfire trends.''
  Mr. President, I do not believe that the issue of climate change 
should be a partisan issue. I hope the mountain of scientific evidence 
that is piling up on climate change will compel my colleagues on both 
sides and the administration to treat climate change as a moral issue 
and quickly enact mandatory reductions in global greenhouse emissions.

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