    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
    [August 22, 2002]
    [Pages 1436-1439]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the Healthy Forests Initiative in Ruch
    August 22, 2002

        Good morning. Thank you all for being here.
        I just got a firsthand look at the terrible effects of the Squire
    fire. First, I want to thank the fire crews, the men and women of Oregon
    and surrounding States who risk their lives to put these fires out. On
    behalf of a grateful nation, I want to thank you for your service to the
    country, and thank you for what you do.
        I flew over the Biscuit fire today when we were coming in. It's
    devastating. I mean, it is big, and it's a powerful fire that has been
    raging for more than a month. It's amazing the scope of the devastation
    that's taken place in Oregon as well as other Western States. Here in
    this State, a million acres have burned. A million acres have caught on
    fire. Hundreds of millions of trees have been destroyed. Countless lives
    have been affected--the same thing all across the West, a lot of people
    whose lives have been turned upside down. I saw firsthand the effects of
    fire in Arizona. I remember going to that school, Governor, where the
    people were just emotionally spent because of what the fire had done to
    them.
        These devastating fires are--threaten the safety of our communities,
    obviously the lives of the firefighters. They destroy homes. They ruin
    farms. These fires destroy critical wildlife habitat, and they leave
    behind long-lasting environmental damage. And as we work to put out the
    fires and to bring relief to the victims, we have a responsibility as a
    nation to work together to prevent the devastation that can be caused by
    future fires. We have a responsibility to bring sensible policy and put
    it in place.
        Today I'm announcing some steps my administration is going to do to
    restore the health of America's forests, steps that I believe and we
    believe will help prevent the kind of destruction we've seen this year.
        Before I talk about that, I do want to thank Secretary Ann
    Veneman and Secretary Gale Norton for coming and for working together, for listening to the
    voices, such as the voices of our Governors. These two ladies understand
    that not all the genius in the world is in Washington, DC,

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    that if we listen to people whose lives are affected by managing nature,
    that we'll probably get better policy--not probably--will get better
    policy.
        I want to thank Jim Connaughton, who
    works on my staff and has helped develop this policy, for being here. I
    want to thank John, the Governor of
    Oregon, John Kitzhaber, for being here. John Kitzhaber and Dirk
    Kempthorne brought the Western Governors
    together to develop a sensible policy as to how to deal with this issue.
    And Judy Martz and Governor Jane Dee Hull of Arizona are with us as well.
        This isn't a Republican issue or Democrat issue. Managing our
    forests is an American issue. And it requires an approach that
    understands there's difference of opinion, and we ought to work together
    to achieve common ground. And John's being
    here today sends that signal loud and clear. I appreciate you so very
    much, Governor, for coming. He's an interesting character who--
    [laughter]--who I enjoy being around.
        I appreciate Senator Ron Wyden and Senator
    Gordon Smith, one Democrat, one Republican, who
    have both made up their mind to get something done. Senator Wyden has
    been working with Senator Craig to develop
    sound policy. And of course, Greg Walden,
    Congressman from this event, is a very active voice in reason--
    reasonable policy to help the people of Oregon. I want to thank them for
    coming as well.
        I want to thank Ron Wenker, who led our tour,
    did a fine job. Little did he know a couple of weeks ago that he'd be
    here entertaining such august company and speaking so eloquently in
    front of the national press corps about his job and about the job of
    protecting our forests and doing the best we can do. I want to thank the
    community leaders who are here, people who care deeply about the future
    of this region.
        I believe, like you believe, that our forests are one of our
    Nation's great treasures, and therefore, we have a responsibility to
    protect our great treasure. It's one of our responsibilities as citizens
    of our country. And yet, as we've seen, our treasure is being wiped out
    by fire. I've looked, as you have, at why, and it's pretty clear that
    this fire prevention strategy of our country has been shortsighted, and
    we, frankly, haven't done a very good job.
        And when you haven't done a very good job at something, it's time to
    take a step back and assess why and solve the problem. Forest policies
    have not focused on thinning--just haven't. That's reality. That's the
    truth. We haven't had a strategy to clear the forest floor of built-up
    brush and densely packed trees that we have seen firsthand here, and in
    other places around the country, create the fuel, the kindling for
    extremely large fires, like those we're experiencing this year.
        The catastrophic wildfires kill the oldest trees, those which we
    long to preserve. They kill just about everything that grows in the
    soil. It's--we should note that because of short-sighted policy, even
    the sequoias of California, Mr. President, are threatened. The fires
    that ravaged the West have destroyed endangered species habitat. They
    damaged fisheries. They've eroded soil. They've become breeding grounds
    for beetles, as we just saw. We were in the midst of a breeding ground
    for insects that prey upon weakened forests.
        Now, they--our policy has not had the health of our forests in mind.
    The hands-off policy that have contributed to this environmental crisis
    have been well intentioned, no question about that. Nobody is
    questioning the intentions of those who have helped put this policy in
    place. But they're dangerous, dangerous plans. And we've got to do
    something about it. All of us in elected positions must respond.
        Some will say, ``Well, there's thinning taking place,'' and let me
    just put what's taking place in perspective to reality. There's--at the
    rate in which we're thin- ning our forests, it will take a century, 100

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    years, to restore America's 200 million acres of Federal forest lands to
    healthy and safe conditions. That's too long, as far as I'm concerned. I
    know it's too long as far as forest firefighters are concerned. It's too
    long as their Senators are concerned. It's too long, and therefore,
    we've got to develop a different strategy.
        We must be active in our management of our forests. We must thin,
    and we must quickly restore the areas that have been damaged by fire.
    People who fight fires and who study forests, who know a lot more about
    this subject than I do, agree. And that's what the American people have
    got to know. Come out and speak to a firefighter about good, commonsense
    policy, and you'll hear what I just said.
        Actively managing forests is going to be the centerpiece of this
    administration. And that's what I made clear to those who work with me.
    And we'll begin by identifying and protecting those areas that are the
    most vulnerable to catastrophic fires, areas which are near our
    communities and our watersheds and other key areas.
        In order to effect our healthy forest policy, we must cut through
    the redtape and endless litigation that blocks efforts to restore forest
    health. For example, a thinning project to prevent catastrophic fire in
    the area where we were just standing was proposed 6 years ago. They
    said, ``Well, what can we do to make sure this area is protected?'' Yet,
    because of burdensome regulatory hurdles and meritless appeals and
    litigation, only a very small portion of this acreage was approved for
    thinning before the fires came through. And we saw the difference
    between an area that had been thinned and an area which had not been
    thinned. And the difference is catastrophic. That's reality.
        So, for the good of Oregon's forests, and really for the good of her
    environment overall and for the good of your economy, I've directed the
    Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the
    Interior, and the Council on Environmental
    Quality to do the following steps: One, to authorize thinning projects
    on an emergency basis in the most critical areas; secondly, to speed up
    the process of developing environmental assessments while considering
    the long-term threat that fire-susceptible forests pose to endangered
    species; and to expedite the appeals process.
        Listen, we want our citizens at the local level to have a voice. We
    want there to be an opportunity for our citizens to speak out. That's
    the great American way. But we must discourage the endless delays that
    prevent good forest policy from going forward. And Congress should pass
    legislation that will ensure that vital forest restoration projects are
    not tied up in courts.
        I mean, we can do some of this through administrative action, but
    Congress needs to act. And I'm confident Congress will act in a way that
    doesn't exclude people; that, as a matter of fact, encourages citizens
    to participate. I mean, there's nothing better than having citizens
    worrying about how to conserve assets and resources.
        I signed some legislation earlier this month in what they call a
    supplemental, which provides protection for Black Hills National Forest
    of South Dakota. The reason I bring that up is that, slowly but surely,
    Members of Congress understand that when there's a problem, we've got to
    deal with it. And my attitude is, if--and I recognize the situation is
    different in Oregon than perhaps in South Dakota, but managing the
    forest isn't. Good forest policy makes sense. And so if it's good enough
    for South Dakota or part of South Dakota, it ought to be good enough for
    Oregon and Arizona and Montana.
        And so I want us to move forward with policy. And there's other ways
    to make sure that the communities are involved. John and I were talking about--to make sure that any good
    Federal policy recognizes that--I think Ron might
    have said it--one size doesn't fit all. Obviously, the Oregon situation
    is different from other States. The health of the forest isn't
    different; it's the

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    same. But how to make sure we have a healthy forest requires input from
    local people. The Congress passed these pilot programs that encouraged
    partnerships of nonprofits or local governments or private companies to
    come together to remove small trees and brush that fuel dangerous fires.
    That makes sense.
        But I don't understand why they need to be pilot programs. If it
    makes sense and we want to manage our forests, these pilot programs
    ought to be not pilot programs but permanent programs all around the
    country, so that we don't have a century of work ahead of us to make our
    forests healthy. We compress that time to a reasonable amount of time so
    our children and grandchildren can have healthy forests, and so your
    children and grandchildren aren't fighting fires all the time.
        I also believe strongly that the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan made
    sense. It was a plan where people from different constituency groups
    came together to talk about how to, first, make the forests healthy. And
    that is the primary concern of this policy or any policy--ought to be
    how to manage our treasure. But at the same time, the plan talked about
    how to protect the wildlife habitat found here in Oregon, how to make
    sure that recreational areas were in good shape.
        And there was a dividend, by the way, to the Northwest plan of 1.1
    billion board feet taken a year of sustainable timbering, and that, of
    course, is so people can find work. And that makes sense to me,
    particularly in a place and a part of the world where people are having
    trouble finding work.
        Good forest policy yield a dividend. They yield healthy forests.
    They yield places where people can bring their families. They protect
    the endangered species, but it also--one of the dividends is work, where
    people can put food on the table. And that's important. The human
    condition is very important, as far as I'm concerned. When somebody is
    looking for work who can't find work, we need to do something about it.
        So I want to thank you all for welcoming us here today. This is a
    classic example of what is possible, given what happened and what is
    happening. It is possible to have sound forest policy that will protect
    against fire. It's possible. It is possible for us to work together to
    achieve a good strategy to protect a national treasure.
        My administration looks forward to working with both Republican and
    Democrat alike to forge the policies to leave behind a legacy of healthy
    forests.
        Thanks for coming. Thank you for your concern, your deep concern
    about this beautiful State, this wonderful area.
        May God bless you all, and may God bless America.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:50 a.m. following a tour of the Squire
    Peak fire area. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. John Kitzhaber of
    Oregon; Gov. Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho; Gov. Judy Martz of Montana; Gov.
    Jane Dee Hull of Arizona; and Ron Wenker, district manager, Medford
    District Bureau of Land Management, Medford, OR.