[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 42 (Tuesday, March 3, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S1294]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO DR. WILLIAM WALLACE COVINGTON

  Ms. SINEMA. Madam President, I rise today to honor the esteemed 
career and public service of Dr. William Wallace Covington, who is 
retiring as regents' professor of forestry at Northern Arizona 
University, NAU.
  As founder and director of NAU's Ecological Restoration Institute, 
Dr. Covington's research has substantially contributed to our 
understanding of the conditions necessary to maintain healthy forest 
ecosystems. His demonstrations that selective thinning and controlled 
fires may mitigate more intense, destructive fires have undoubtedly 
helped save significant swathes of southwestern ponderosa pine forests, 
including those found in Arizona.
  Dr. Covington was recognized as an Outstanding Teaching Scholar by 
NAU, and received the Biswell Lifetime Achievement Award from the 
Association for Fire Ecology, has testified before both congressional 
and State natural resource committees and advised a former Chief of the 
U.S. Forest Service and former Secretary of the Interior. Dr. 
Covington's dedication to novel research and evidence-driven outcomes 
has been essential in safeguarding our communities from uncontrolled 
fires.
  I thank Dr. Covington for his years of dedicated work and public 
service on behalf of Arizona, the Southwest, and the American people.
  I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter from 
Bruce Babbitt recognizing Dr. Covington.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                 January 26, 2019.
     Hon. Kyrsten Sinema,
     U.S. Senator,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Martha McSally,
     U.S. Senator,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator Sinema and Senator McSally: I write to support 
     Congressional recognition of the remarkable career and public 
     service of Professor Wallace Covington who is retiring as 
     Regents Professor of Forestry at Northern Arizona University.
       Professor Covington's work came to my attention back in 
     1993. At the Interior Department we were confronted with a 
     rapid increase in large, destructive fires in the western 
     ponderosa forest in the Southwest. In response to a proposal 
     from Covington, the Department dedicated an extensive forest 
     tract at Mt. Trumbull north of the Grand Canyon for large 
     scale experimentation, and we began to fund his work.
       What emerged from the Mt. Trumbull experiment was a new 
     understanding of pre-settlement open forests that were 
     maintained free of dense thickets and underbrush by frequent, 
     low intensity natural fires. Following European settlement, 
     these natural forests became overly dense as a result of fire 
     suppression and over grazing. With so much unnatural fuel 
     accumulation, forest fires have become more intense, 
     widespread and destructive.
       Covington's work at Mount Trumbull demonstrated that these 
     forests could be brought back to a more natural condition by 
     a carefully controlled process of selective thinning and the 
     application of low intensity prescribed fire.
       Covington has since taken his academic work to the policy 
     level by organizing support for large scale restoration 
     programs. The Congress, with leadership from Senator Kyl, has 
     supported creation of the Ecological Restoration Institute at 
     Northern Arizona University and comparable centers at 
     Colorado State University and New Mexico Highlands 
     University.
       This work continues today with support from local 
     governments and environmental groups. An example is the 4FRI 
     project, a twenty year restoration project across several 
     million acres in northern Arizona, managed by the Forest 
     Service with support from the Congress and a broad coalition 
     of state and federal agencies, local communities and 
     environmental organizations.
       Covington's work is an outstanding example of science in 
     action under leadership from a dedicated public servant, 
     forging consensus policy changes that are now restoring 
     forests, and safeguarding communities from uncontrolled 
     wildfire.
       His work and advocacy has been of inestimable benefit to 
     the American people.
           Sincerely,
     Bruce Babbitt.

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