[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 33 (Monday, August 18, 2003)]
[Pages 1043-1047]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on the Healthy Forests Initiative in Summerhaven, Arizona

August 11, 2003

    Thank you all. Please be seated. Thanks a lot. Good morning. Thanks 
for welcoming to this beautiful part of the world that has been scarred 
by nature. Senator McCain and I drove up the hill and he was saying, 
``You know, this part of Arizona is a lot prettier than anywhere in 
Texas.'' [Laughter] I didn't believe it at first--[laughter]--but it is 
beautiful. And all of us are sorry that fire has devastated life in the 
countryside here.
    I want to thank the people for Summerhaven for allowing us to come 
up to visit your beautiful part of the world. You know, any time a 
community has been devastated like Summerhaven has been devastated, you 
could determine the character of the people. And the character of the 
people of Summerhaven and this part of Arizona have been tested, and 
you've met the test, and our Nation admires your courage and strength.
    Too many communities like this have known too many hardships that 
fire causes. We've got a problem in the country, a problem which has 
built up over decades, and a problem we better fix before more people go 
through the griefs the people of Summerhaven have gone through, or the 
people that were affected by the Rodeo fires in northern Arizona.
    See, our job as policy people and Members of Congress, have got to 
fix problems when we see them. They don't ignore problems. They don't 
hope the problems go away. We come up with commonsense solutions to the 
problems that affect the daily lives of our citizens, and that's what 
we're here to talk about today.
    One of the people I've tasked with coming up with solutions to the 
problems we face is Secretary Ann Veneman. She's done a fabulous job on 
behalf of the people of the United States. She is a commonsense 
purpose--person. She asks the practical questions about how do we solve 
problems in America. She's also done a fine job of running the Forest 
Service. And I appreciate Dale Bosworth being here. He's the Chief of 
the Forest Service. And thank you for coming, Chief. I appreciate your 
commonsense policy. And I want to thank all the Forest Service 
employees, not only here in this part of Arizona but all across the 
country, for your dedication and service. Thank you, sir.
    I appreciate Big Dan being with us. He is a firefighter's 
firefighter. The Senator and

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I and Madam Secretary had a chance to hear him talk about the courage 
and valor of the firefighters in this part of the State of Arizona as 
well as the others he commands. He and his partner, Larry, who I met 
last year, are just solid commanders. They're guys who set the course, 
set the strategy, and encourage the people to get after it.
    And Dan, I want to thank you for your service to our country as 
well. I'm honored that you've given us a tour. I appreciate your 
service. I'm glad Ron called you into action--sad you had to come, but 
he called you into action because you're the best at what you do, and 
that's great for our country that you are. Thanks, Chief. Thank you and 
your wife for your service to America.
    Ron, I want to thank you for your hospitality, and I want to thank 
all the good folks who work here in this park, in this park area for 
working hard to make sure the environment is safe and sound and secure 
and that this park remains a beautiful part of the country.
    I want to thank John McCain for being with us. He's a commonsense 
conservative who understands that we can do a better job of managing our 
national resources. I also want to thank Ben Nighthorse Campbell, who is 
over from the great State of Colorado. Colorado has also faced a lot of 
fire, too many fire. And he understands we need better policy.
    Jim Kolbe is with us today; he's the Congressman from this area. I 
asked the county commissioner here, I said, ``Has the response been 
good?'' His first--right off, he said, ``McCain and Kolbe have been 
incredibly responsive to the people of this part of the world.'' And I 
want to--and Kyl, he didn't show up, so he doesn't get any credit. 
[Laughter] Kyl is a good man. He deserves credit.
    But I do want to thank the Senators and the Member of Congress for 
responding so quickly to the needs of the people here. I also want to 
thank other members of the congressional delegation from Arizona: Jeff 
Flake and Trent Franks, Big J.D. Hayworth and Rick Renzi, all fine 
Members of the United States Congress, all represent their State and 
their district with distinction and class, and I want to thank you all 
for joining us on this event.
    I appreciate Janice Brewer, the secretary of state of the great 
State of Arizona for being here, all the members of the legislature and 
the State Senate are here, the county commissioner, our fellow citizens. 
Thank you for coming by to give us a chance to say hello.
    I particularly want to thank the ``hot shot'' fire crews, the men 
and women who wear yellow, the people who put their lives on the line, 
those who respond to emergencies. The forest fire crews have been put to 
incredible tests recently. A lot of it has to do with failed policy, 
backward policy when it comes to maintaining the health of our forests.
    Last year alone, it's important for our fellow citizens all across 
America to know that catastrophic wildfires burned about 7 million acres 
of land. And in trying to protect the natural resources and the people 
affected by those fires, we lost 23 firefighters, men and women who 
served our country with distinction. Our Nation is grateful for those 
who are willing to take risk on somebody else's behalf, and we extend 
our deepest sympathies to the loved ones who still mourn the lives of 
those which were lost.
    Last month, the people of this beautiful part of America saw the 
devastating effects of the Aspen fire, which consumed over 85,000 acres. 
It destroyed hundreds of homes and buildings. We flew over Summerhaven. 
We saw the devastation. We saw the effects of a fire run wild, not only 
on the hillsides but also in the communities, burnt buildings, lives 
turned upside down because of the destruction of fire.
    We also were able to see--I was able to hear the fact that our 
Government responded quickly, and that's important. In June, shortly 
after the fire began, FEMA issued a fire management assistance grant, 
granting millions of aid to the State of Arizona to cover a significant 
portion of the firefighting costs. That is a legitimate role of the 
Federal Government. And I will remind the House of Representatives and 
Members of the Senate that we have an obligation to help people fight 
fires in America.
    The disaster declaration I signed authorized Federal assistance to 
the State and Pima County for rebuilding public infrastructure

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and facilities. The SBA is providing low-interest loans to help small-
business people in Summerhaven get their feet back on the ground and get 
the businesses started again. The Forest Service is putting down seed 
and hay to prevent soil erosion. We got to see some of the project, the 
hay project, on the hill right over there, right behind us.
    The Federal Government has acted, and we need to act. But there's 
more we can do with good, sound policy. That's what we need to do at the 
Federal level. The University of Arizona Steward Observatory and the 
surrounding trees on Mount Lemmon are still standing today because of 
good, sound forest management practices. They didn't have fires in the 
area because there wasn't enough fuel to burn through the area, like 
that happened here.
    There are campgrounds still intact, campgrounds used by church 
groups and scout troops which exist today because of good forest 
management. Forest-thinning projects make a significant difference about 
whether or not wildfires will destroy a lot of property. We need to thin 
our forests in America.
    Our citizens must understand there are millions of acres of forest 
around this country that are vulnerable to catastrophic fire because of 
brush and small trees have been collecting for decades. As Senator 
McCain reminded me, it has taken decades for this problem to develop. 
And therefore, it's going to take a while to solve the problem, and we 
better get after it now with good, sound forest management projects.
    It's important for people who don't know anything about forests and 
forest fires to understand that overgrowth chokes off nutrients to older 
and taller trees. It provides breeding grounds for insects and disease, 
which weaken our forests and make them more susceptible to fire. The 
kindling can turn small fires into large, raging fires that burn with 
such intensity that the trees literally explode. The devastation of a 
fire destroys not only trees but wildlife and its habitat. It causes 
flooding and soil erosion. It can ruin water supplies. Catastrophic 
fires burn so hot that it is incredibly hard to put them out. The 
kindling on the ground, the decades of neglect, the decades of failed 
policy have meant that our forest fires are incredibly hot, incredibly 
catastrophic. If you don't believe me, ask people like Dan who make a 
living fighting these fires.
    And so we've listened to the people who are the frontline of making 
sure our forests are preserved and healthy. See, we listen to them 
because we have an obligation in America to preserve our forests. Our 
forests are treasures that must be preserved for future generations. 
It's important that we have good, sound forest policy. And the best way 
to do so is to listen to the experts who understand that by thinning out 
our forests, we risk--we reduce the risk of catastrophic fire, that we 
can and we should have good, sound forest management policy all across 
the United States of America.
    And that's why I outlined what I called a Healthy Forests 
Initiative. The forest policies of the past operated to discourage 
efforts to thin forests. And unfortunately, well-meaning people 
proposed--put policy in place that made the health of the forests at 
risk, not better off.
    And so the initiative said we're going to take a new approach. I 
called upon Ann and the Secretary of Interior and the Chairman of the 
Council on Environmental Quality to cut through bureaucratic redtape so 
that we can get urgently needed thinning projects moving. See, when you 
hear ``redtape,'' that means there's a lot of rules and regulations that 
generally are in place to prevent something from happening. And our job 
is to slice through the redtape to get thinning projects moving forward.
    We're speeding up the process of environmental assessment and 
consultations required now by current law, while considering both the 
health of the forest and our obligation to protect endangered species. 
We're expediting the administrative appeals process, so that disputes 
over projects are resolved quickly. In other words, not everybody agrees 
with thinning; there will be objections. But we want those objections 
heard, of course--every citizen needs to hear a voice--but we want the 
process to work quickly so we can get on about the business of saving 
our forests.
    We believe in bringing people together to try to reach agreement on 
forest projects. We believe all voices should be heard. But we

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want to expedite the process to avoid the legal wrangling and the delays 
that take place in our courts. Delays in our courts prevent us from 
doing the job necessary to maintain healthy forests.
    We're working with the western Governors, most of--a lot of the 
problems exist in--out West, and we understand that. This is a place for 
good, sound policy to take place--out West on the Federal lands. Above 
all, we will continue to rely upon the informed judgment of the forest 
professionals and those who fight the fires.
    Any skeptic about what I'm talking about ought to come and talk to 
the people who know what they're talking about, who make a living 
fighting fires, who understand the devastation that is caused by 
backward forest policy. Every forest will be treated according to its 
unique circumstances. Federal policy must be flexible to be able to deal 
with the problems in each particular part of our country.
    Saving millions of acres of forest through better management will 
require a lot of hard work in a lot of States and, interestingly enough, 
will not only save our forests but will create jobs. You see, not all 
the work of thinning will be done by Government. In order to meet some 
of the goals we've proposed, we have to rely upon local contractors who 
will clear away and be able to sell smaller trees, the trees that 
provide the kindling. And this way, the work of thinning overgrown 
forests improves public safety, will save taxpayers' money, and will 
help local economies.
    This initiative that I outlined, the Healthy Forests Initiative, is 
producing results. Last year, we treated 2\1/4\ million acres of 
overgrown forests. That's a million acres more than were treated in the 
year 2000, and that's good. By the end of the fiscal year in September, 
we will have treated more than 2.6 million acres of forest and range 
land, and that's important. In Arizona, we're treating 224,000 acres 
this year, about twice as many acres as were treated in 2001.
    We're making progress, but current law makes it very difficult to 
expedite the thinning of forests. Laws on the books make it very 
difficult for us to set priorities, to listen to those who manage our 
forests and fight the fires, and to get after the thinning that is 
necessary to prevent catastrophic fires from occurring in the first 
place.
    All too often, the litigation process delays forest projects for 
years and years, and that's a reality. Our forests remain unprotected; 
our communities are vulnerable. So I asked Congress to reform the review 
process for forest projects. The ``Healthy Forest Restoration Act'' now 
pending in Congress will do just that. It directs courts to consider 
long-term threats to forest health that could result if thinning 
projects are delayed. In other words, it says to the courts, the health 
of our forests is a national goal. It makes forest health the priority 
when it comes to the courts resolving disputes. It places reasonable 
time limits on the litigation process, after the public has had an 
opportunity to comment and a decision has been made.
    For the sake of our forests, the Congress must act. The House of 
Representatives has passed a bill which includes these reforms, and I 
want to thank the Members from the great State of Arizona for their 
leadership. A bill--such a bill has passed the Senate Agriculture 
Committee. And now it's time for us in the administration and for 
Members in the Senate who agree with this policy to reach across the 
partisan divide and get a good bill out of the United States Senate.
    The issue I speak about is not a political issue. It's not a 
partisan issue. This is an American issue that requires consensus to do 
what is smart and right about preserving and protecting our national 
forests. I look forward to working with members of both parties to get a 
good bill out of the United States Senate.
    Within sight of where we stand are the results of wise forest policy 
and the ruins of unwise forest policy. For those who live here, it's the 
difference between lives surrounded by natural beauty and lives 
disrupted by natural disaster. We can serve the interests of this 
country by working together, by listening to people who know what 
they're talking about, and putting together commonsense policy to 
preserve our forests, to make them healthy so that when we step back 
after our time and service, people will say, ``Job well done.''
    Thanks for coming. May God bless those who suffer, may God bless 
those who serve

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our country, and may God continue to bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 10:55 a.m. at Inspiration Rock. In his 
remarks, he referred to Dan Oltrogge and Larry Humphrey, incident 
commanders, Type I Southwest Area Incident Management Teams; Ron Senn, 
Santa Catalina District Ranger, U.S. Forest Service; Senator Ben 
Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado; and Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona.