[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16395]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  ALLOW RESPONSIBLE FOREST MANAGEMENT

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Madam Speaker, in the first 6 months of this year, 
wildfires have burned nearly 3 million acres out west. That 6-month 
total is significantly more than the annual averages, and even greater 
than the number of acres burned at the same point during the record-
setting fire year of 2000. And thousands of acres of fire continue to 
burn as we speak.
  So far, the State of Nevada has endured over 678 separate fires, 
turning nearly 81,000 acres into charcoal. Wildfires not only devastate 
our precious national forests but they endanger private property and 
the lives of thousands of residents in the West. It is time we give the 
Forest Service and the Department of the Interior the tools they need 
to expeditiously implement fuels-reduction work on tens of millions of 
acres of public land at risk of severe wildfire.
  I urge my colleagues to support the efforts of the House Committee on 
Resources to move the President's healthy forest initiative to reduce 
wildfire risk for the sake of our national resources, our property, and 
our lives.

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