[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 49 (Monday, December 8, 2003)]
[Pages 1741-1744]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Signing the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003

December 3, 2003

    Thanks for coming. Thanks for finally inviting me to the Department 
of Agriculture. [Laughter] It's an honor to be here. I'm really glad to 
be here as our Government takes a major step forward in protecting 
America's forests.

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    Almost 750 million acres of forest stand tall and beautiful across 
the 50 States. We have a responsibility to be good stewards of our 
forests. That's a solemn responsibility. And the legislation I sign 
today carries forward this ethic of stewardship. With the Healthy Forest 
Restoration Act, we will help to prevent catastrophic wildfires; we'll 
help save lives and property; and we'll help protect our forests from 
sudden and needless destruction.
    I appreciate so very much Secretaries Veneman and Norton for working 
hard on this issue. These two members of my Cabinet are doing a great 
job, and I'm proud that they're in my Cabinet. I want to thank Mark Rey. 
I also want to thank Dale Bosworth, who is the Chief of the Forest 
Service. From the Interior Department, I want to thank Rebecca Watson 
and Lynn Scarlett for their hard work and their good work for these 
important issues. I want to thank the officials and employees of the 
Department of Agriculture and the Department of Interior for doing a 
great job on behalf of the American citizens. Thank you for your 
dedication and your work on behalf of all of us.
    I appreciate the Hotshot team members from the great State of 
California. These are the folks in the yellow shirts. I spent some time 
with the Hotshot members as a--this summer in California, last summer in 
Arizona, a time in Oregon, Washington State. These are brave, brave 
citizens. These are fantastic citizens in the country. We're proud to be 
standing with them up here.
    I appreciate the Members of Congress who have joined us, strong 
Members who brought some common sense to what had been an acrimonious 
debate, who listened to the people--[applause]--Members who listen to 
the people, who know what they're talking about, and came up with a good 
piece of legislation, starting with Senator Thad Cochran, who's the 
chairman of the Committee of Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Thad 
has done a fabulous job of getting this bill out of the United States 
Senate, along with Max Baucus and Mike Crapo--Baucus being of--from 
Montana and Crapo being from Idaho, great Members of the Senate, and 
thank you all for coming. I appreciate your coming. We have two other 
Members of the Senate with us here. From the West, Kyl and Smith--Gordon 
Smith from Oregon. I appreciate you two coming.
    From the House, onstage are three Members: the chairman of the 
Committee of Agriculture, Bob Goodlatte, from the great State of 
Virginia; Scott McInnis, who is the sponsor of the Healthy Forest bill--
[applause]--McInnis is having a family reunion in Washington. [Laughter] 
Richard Pombo is the chairman of the Committee on Resources. We've got 
Greg Walden and Sherry Boehlert. We've got the finest fighter pilot in 
Navy history with us, Duke Cunningham. We've got Renzi from Arizona. 
Thank you all for coming, fine Members, and appreciate you getting this 
bill out.
    I want to thank all the State and local officials who have come 
here. You understand the importance of getting a good piece of 
legislation out of the Congress. See, you live right there where the 
fires occur, and I want to thank you for your help, thank you for 
helping bring some common sense to Washington, DC. I appreciate the 
representatives of the conservation groups who have worked in a 
constructive way to help change the attitude inside the halls of the 
United States Congress so we can work together to get some good 
legislation out to protect our forests. I want to thank the business 
groups who are here, who spent time making sure this legislation makes 
sense.
    I understand Chuck Leavell is here, of the Rolling Stones. I 
appreciate Chuck being here. He's the keyboard player. And he also has--
they tell me he's a tree raiser, a tree farmer, whatever you call them. 
[Laughter] Glad you're here. Thanks for coming, Chuck. I appreciate you 
being here.
    For decades, Government policies have allowed large amounts of 
underbrush and small trees to collect at the base of our forests. The 
motivations of this approach were good. But our failure to maintain the 
forests has had dangerous consequences and devastating consequences. The 
uncontrolled growth left by years of neglect chokes off nutrients from 
trees and provides a breeding ground for insects and disease.
    As we have seen this year and in other years, such policy creates 
the conditions for

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devastating wildfires. Today, about 190 million acres of forest and 
woodlands around the country are vulnerable to destruction. Overgrown 
brush and trees can serve as kindling, turning small fires into large, 
raging blazes that burn with such intensity that the trees literally 
explode.
    I saw that firsthand when we were flying over Oregon, magnificent 
trees just exploding as we choppered by. The resulting devastation 
damages the habitats of endangered species, causes flooding and soil 
erosion, harms air quality, oftentimes ruins water supplies. These 
catastrophic fires destroy homes and businesses. They put lives at risk, 
especially the lives of the brave men and women who are on the frontline 
of fighting these fires.
    In 2 years' time, fires throughout the country have burned nearly 11 
million acres. We've seen the cost that wildfires bring in the loss of 
28 firefighters this year alone. In the fires that burned across 
southern California this fall, 22 civilians also lost their lives as 
whole neighborhoods vanished into flames. And we ask for God's blessings 
on the family members who grieve the loss and on the friends who mourn 
for their comrades.
    We're seeing the tragic consequences brought by years of unwise 
forest policy. We face a major national challenge, and we're acting 
together to solve the challenge. The Healthy Forest Initiative I 
announced last year marked a clear and decisive change in direction. 
Instead of enduring season after season of devastating fires, my 
administration acted to remove the causes of severe wildfires. We worked 
within our existing legal authority to thin out and remove forest 
undergrowth before disaster struck. We emphasized thinning projects in 
critical areas. And since the beginning of 2002, we've restored almost 5 
million acres of overgrown forest and rangeland.
    And that's pretty good progress. But it's not enough progress. And 
so, thanks to the United States Congress, thanks to their action, and 
thanks for passing the Healthy Forest Restoration Act--we now can expand 
the work to a greater scale that the dangers of wildfires demand. In 
other words, we were confined. The Congress acted in a bipartisan spirit 
in order to enable this administration to work harder to do what we can 
do to prevent wildfires from taking place.
    The bill expedites the environmental review process so we can move 
forward more quickly on projects that restore forests to good health. We 
don't want our intentions bogged down by regulations. We want to get 
moving. When we see a problem, this Government needs to be able to move. 
Congress wisely enabled a review process to go forward but also wisely 
recognizes sometimes the review process bogs us down and things just 
don't get done.
    The new law directs courts to consider the long-term risks that 
could result if thinning projects are delayed. And that's an important 
reform, and I want to thank you all for that. It places reasonable time 
limits on litigation after the public has had an opportunity to comment 
and a decision has been made. You see, no longer will essential forest 
health projects be delayed by lawsuits that drag on year after year 
after year.
    This act of Congress sets the right priorities for the management of 
our Nation's forests, focusing on woodlands that are closest to 
communities and on places where the risk to wildlife and the environment 
is the greatest. It enforces high standards of stewardship so that we 
can ensure that we're returning our forests to more natural conditions 
and maintaining a full range of forest types. It enables collaboration 
between community groups and private stewardship organizations and all 
levels of government before projects are chosen. This law will not 
prevent every fire, but it is an important step forward, a vital step to 
make sure we do our duty to protect our Nation's forests.
    The principles behind the Healthy Forest Initiative were not 
invented in the White House and, truthfully, not invented in the 
Congress. They are founded on the experience of scientists, forestry 
experts, and, as importantly, the firefighters who know what they're 
talking about. Chief Tom O'Keefe of the California Department of 
Forestry is among those who have seen the consequences of misguided 
forest policy. He put it this way: ``A lot of people have been well-
intentioned. They saved trees, but they lost the forest.'' We want to 
save the forest.

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    This bill was passed because Members of Congress looked at sound 
science, did the best they could to get all the politics out of the way 
for good legislation. Members from both parties came together, people 
from different regions of the country. A broad range of people who care 
about our forests were listened to, whether they be conservationists, or 
resource managers, people from the South, people from the West, people 
from New York. You see, we all share duties of stewardship. And today we 
shared in an important accomplishment.
    For the good of our forests and for the good of our people, I'm 
honored to sign this important piece of legislation. I'm honored to be 
here to sign the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003.

Note: The President spoke at 10:40 a.m. at the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture. In his remarks, he referred to Under Secretary of 
Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment Mark Rey. The Office 
of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of 
these remarks. H.R. 1904, approved December 3, was assigned Public Law 
No. 108-148.