[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 21 (Monday, May 26, 2003)]
[Pages 632-635]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on the Healthy Forests Initiative

May 20, 2003

    Thanks for coming, and good morning. I welcome you all to the White 
House, and I'm pleased all of you could be here to support the 
preservation of a great American treasure, our forests.
    Nine months ago, I stood at the scene of Squires Peak fire in 
Oregon. On one side of a dirt road, where small trees and underbrush had 
been removed before the fire rolled through, the forest was green and 
alive. On the other side of the road, where a similar thinning project 
had been stalled by lawsuits, the landscape was charred, and the trees 
looked like matchsticks. The contrast between these two sides of the 
forest was startling, and it was tragic.
    Active forest management could have saved both areas. It could have 
saved millions more acres across America from the devastation of severe 
forest fires and insect damage. Yet, for too many years, bureaucratic 
tangles and bad forest policy have prevented foresters from keeping our 
woodlands healthy and safe. The cost to America has been high, in the 
loss of lives and property and in the destruction of woodlands and 
wildlife.

[[Page 633]]

    No region in America is immune to this problem. Wildfires, diseases, 
and insect infestations threaten the habitat of animals and diminish the 
quality of our water. And problems on public lands hurt private lands as 
well. After all, the problems can leap across boundary lines to destroy 
homes and farms and ranches and, in some cases, towns.
    The Healthy Forests Initiative that I announced last summer is 
making American woodlands more safe, acre by acre. As we approach the 
start of fire season, we have a responsibility to do even more to 
protect our forests, and we will meet that responsibility. People who 
understand the responsibility we assume when we take office are on the 
stage with me today, namely Secretary Gale Norton and Secretary Ann 
Veneman. And I want to thank them for their leadership. And I want to 
thank you for your work.
    As well, I appreciate Jim Connaughton, who's the Chairman of the 
Council on Environmental Quality. That means he works in the White House 
and helps coordinate policy out of the White House. Jimmy is doing a 
fine job.
    On stage with me today is Andrea Gilham. She's the fire management 
officer for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Who she represents are all the 
people on the frontline, the yellow shirts. She represents the people 
who put their lives at risk, sometimes because of bad forest policy. She 
represents the folks who I got to meet after touring some of the fire 
areas, who had worked themselves into complete exhaustion because they 
were serving their neighbors, because they were risking life to protect 
others. She represents the best of America, and I want to thank you all 
for coming here today.
    I also want to thank Rex Mann, who's the area commander for the U.S. 
Forest Service. Rex is a well-organized fellow. He's a smart man. He 
understands sensible policy. After all, he's made a career of trying to 
make sure sensible policy came into being to prevent devastation of our 
forests. I met Rex at the site of a tragic fire. I saw how well-
organized he was, and I saw the fact that he commanded a group of great 
professionals, and those would be the U.S. Forest Service professionals. 
And so, Rex, thank you for coming. And I want to thank all the people 
who work for the U.S. Forest Service across our country.
    We're lucky to have some Governors, particularly out West, who 
understand practical, sensible policy, people that are working hard to 
help the world realize that not all the smarts exist in Washington, DC, 
that there's plenty capable people outside of the Nation's Capital. And 
one such Governor is with us, and that's Judy Martz, who's the 
chairperson of the Western Governors' Association, the Governor of 
Montana. Thank you, Judy, for coming.
    Plus, we've got some good people in the Congress who care about this 
issue, people who work in a bipartisan fashion to get the bill through. 
We've got Members of the United States Senate who are here, strong 
leaders on this issue, starting with Senator Pete Domenici from the 
State of New Mexico, Gordon Smith from the State of Oregon, Larry Craig 
from the State of Idaho, and the birthday boy, Senator Crapo--where are 
you? Congratulations, Mike, happy birthday.
    I want to thank the Members of the House. The House is going to take 
this bill up today, as I understand. I want to thank you all for working 
on this: Pombo, Goodlatte, McInnis; Walden of Oregon; Sherry Boehlert of 
New York has been a stalwart in bringing factions together on the floor 
of the House, and I want to thank you for that, Sherry, for your 
leadership; Gilchrest of Maryland, Taylor of North Carolina, Renzi of 
Arizona, and Mike Ross of Arkansas, thank you all for coming. I'm proud 
you all are here.
    Last year, 23 firefighters died while battling disastrous forest 
fires. Our professional firefighters take risk. We need to mitigate 
those risks by sound policy. We need to be smart about how we manage our 
forests. Those fires last year scorched 7 million acres, more than 
double the average of the last 10 years. Major blazes burned in 15 
States across our country, destroyed 815 homes. It cost the taxpayers 
about $1.6 billion of fire suppression. The economic impact of these 
wildfires and of mismanaged forests is widespread. Hard-working 
Americans and the communities that count on healthy forests are 
suffering.

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    Since 1989, five Western States, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, 
and California, have lost 47,000 timber jobs. Four hundred mills have 
closed in those States. At present, this year's fire outlook seems less 
severe, and that's good news for the men and women who wear the yellow. 
Yet, the danger persists, and many of our forests are facing a higher 
than normal risk of costly and catastrophic fires. The communities from 
Georgia to California that are at significant risk for those fires need 
our help. And today we pledge it; we pledge our help.
    Wildfires in unnaturally overgrown forest burn hotter and spread 
faster than normal fires. And their effects on the environment can be 
devastating. The fires sterilize soils and trigger soil erosion. They 
decimate our forests, killing even giant sequoias that have survived 
centuries of smaller fires. They destroy the habitats of endangered 
species. Last year, the fire in Hayman, Colorado, damaged the habitat of 
several species, for example, including the Mexican spotted owl.
    One reason for these deadly fires is found in decades of well-
intentioned but misguided forest policy which has allowed dangerous 
undergrowth to build up on the forest floor. During seasonal droughts, 
these small trees and underbrush act as ladders for fires to reach to 
the tops of our oldest and tallest trees. They make forests vulnerable 
to insect infestation and disease.
    Sound science shows that we can prevent such fires by managing 
forests with controlled fire, cleaning out the underbrush, and thinning 
the areas that are vulnerable to intense fires and insect attacks. This 
is common sense, and it is the consensus of scientists, wildlife 
biologists, forestry professionals, and firefighters, the very people 
who have dedicated their lives to keeping our forests healthy and our 
community safe.
    This is policy that came from the grassroots to the White House. 
We've asked experts on how best to deal with the problem. See, we see a 
problem, and we want to deal with it for the good of the country.
    Andrea Gilham is a fire management officer and a member of the 
Blackfeet Tribe in Browning, Montana. She has been fighting fires since 
she was 19 years old, 2 years ago. [Laughter] She has a degree in forest 
resource management. She's the kind of person that Congress needs to 
listen to. She knows the cost of doing too little to prevent extreme 
wildfires. In 1990, she was working the frontlines of the Dude fire in 
Arizona's Tonto National Forest on the day six firefighters died. Andrea 
says, ``Everybody knows what we need to do. The longer we wait, the more 
likelihood a catastrophic wildfire is going to happen. Lives and 
property are at risk.''
    Everybody who's in the field knows what we need to do. Everybody 
whose job it is to protect America and the communities from wildfires 
know what we need to do. The Forest--many in the Forest Service know 
what we need to do. Enough on the House floor, I hope, know what we need 
to do. We've just got to make sure that enough Senators know what we 
need to do to propose and get through the Healthy Forests Initiative.
    And the initiative I've laid out is beginning to make sense. We've 
begun to cut through the bureaucratic redtape, and there's a lot of 
redtape here, as the people on the frontline can tell you. Since 2000, 
the Federal Government has more than doubled the amount of money 
budgeted for firefighting--and that is good--for firefighting and fire 
prevention. For '04, we budgeted an 8-percent increase. And I want to 
thank the Members of the Congress and the Senate who are working with us 
on that project, to make sure we've got enough money to let these good 
folks do what they're supposed to do, on behalf of communities all 
across the country.
    This year, we've reduced the undergrowth that fuels fires on more 
than 1.3 million acres of forest and rangelands. That was nearly twice 
as many as were treated in the year 2001. We're moving at a record pace. 
We've still got a long way to go. There's a lot more work to do. One-
hundred-and-ninety-five million acres are vulnerable to devastating 
forest fires. For the sake of our forests and for the sake the 
communities, we've got to act quickly, and that's why we've gathered 
here.
    I appreciate the Congress' hard work on the ``Healthy Forests 
Restoration Act.'' I appreciate the House moving the bill today. I urge 
Congress to get it done, to get it to my desk as quickly as possible. 
The bipartisan

[[Page 635]]

bill--and I emphasize ``bipartisan bill''--builds on the success of the 
Healthy Forests Initiative. It sets the goal of thinning trees and 
cleaning out underbrush and restoring the health to 20 million acres. I 
hope Congress says, when we're successful in the 20 million, we need to 
get after the 175 million more acres.
    This bill sets priorities for forest management by authorizing work 
in the areas that are closest to rural communities and work where 
there's the greatest risk for environmental damage. It's a practical 
piece of legislation. It's good, commonsense environmental policy, is 
what we're talking about.
    The ``Healthy Forests Restoration Act'' helps the people closest to 
the problem by allowing local citizens to help plan projects for 
nonprofit, for profit, and for stewardship groups. And these citizens 
can benefit economically from selling the smaller trees that are cleared 
out from the forests.
    Local citizens can be great allies in the effort to protect our 
forests. Ron Bell is with us today--where are you, Ron? There he is. Hi, 
Ron--thought you would have gotten a better seat. [Laughter] He spent 22 
years in the Army before coming home to manage his family cattle and 
tree farm near Batesville, Arkansas. About 6 years ago, when Ron noticed 
the health of the forest in his area deteriorating from insect 
infestation, he decided to do something about it. Ron, his wife, and 
their two sons spent an entire winter cleaning out the diseased and 
lower-quality trees that were crowding out the taller trees in his 40-
acre forest.
    When he was finished, the forest was healthier. The bugs were gone, 
and he had made about $15,000 from the sale of the undergrowth that he 
cleared away. Today he belongs to a group of nearly 200 landowners in 
central Arkansas who are working to manage their woodlands and to keep 
the bugs out. Ron says some of the landowners who live near national 
forest areas are worried because the Government moves too slowly in 
treating our own forests. Here's what he says: ``The conditions are 
preventable with a little bit of management. You don't just have to 
throw up your hands. There are times you need to get in there quickly, 
when the situation is dire.''
    And the situation is dire across America. We need to listen to the 
voices of reasoned people. We need to get the politics out of this, and 
we need to focus on what's best for America, is what we need to do. We 
need to bring people together, for the sake of our forests, for the sake 
of those who work to see that our forests are healthy, for the sake of 
those who sacrifice to fight the fires. That's what we need to do here 
in Washington, DC. We need less bickering, less politics, and more 
sound, commonsense policy. And that's what we're talking about right 
here today.
    And the reason why that is necessary is because our forests are a 
treasure, and we are their stewards. We must preserve them. We must 
protect the people and communities who depend on them. We must fulfill 
our promise to the next generation--that's what we must do--and leave 
behind a world as blessed and as beautiful as the one our parents left 
us.
    Thank you for your interest in this important subject. May God bless 
your work, and may God continue to bless the United States of America. 
Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 10:55 a.m. in the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden 
at the White House. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a 
Spanish language transcript of these remarks.