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--> --> Environmentalist: Feds misspending fire funds, steering cash to logging By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings Nearly 150 environmental groups have sent a letter to U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth stating their support for wildfire fuels reduction work near homes, and claiming the federal agency has misspent National Fire Plan funds on commercial logging far from communities. The groups - including the Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Headwaters and the Siskiyou Regional Education Project locally - also signed the letter to the Western Governors Association and all members of Congress. The groups said some politicians and Forest Service officials have misrepresented the environmental community's stance on wildfires, home protection and wildfire fuels reduction projects. "The conservation community is deeply committed to the protection of homes and communities from fire," said Joseph Vaille of the Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center in Ashland. "However, the Forest Service and BLM (Bureau of Land Management) are misusing Fire Plan funds to support more commercial logging, not to protect communities. Federal land managers' abuse is occurring despite warnings their fire policy not rely on commercial logging to reduce fire risks because logging of large trees does not reduce fire risk and may, in fact, increase such risk." Scientists generally agree that large trees are more fire resilient than small diameter trees and brush. Vaille said most environmental groups support using National Fire Plan funds for non-commercial thinning of small diameter trees and brush in the urban wildlands interface, where homes meet forests. In the letter, the environmental groups said the Forest Service has not been prioritizing interface fuels treatments. "While we are supportive of effective home and community protection efforts, what we are finding `on the ground' is that National Fire Plan funds have been misused by the Forest Service to promote commercial logging, have not been targeted toward the highest risk areas, and have failed to effectively protect homes and communities from fires," the letter stated. Rex Holloway, spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Regional Office in Portland, said the agency will be spending an increasing percentage of National FirePlan funds on interface work in the future. He noted it usually takes multiple years for the agency to plan and implement projects, and many projects that were ready for implementation when the National Fire Plan was adopted were distant from communities. The National Fire Plan was created following widespread wildfires in 2000, and allocates funding for additional firefighters, fuels reduction projects and other fire related work. "During the first year of the National Fire Plan, fuels treatments were ones we had planned further from the interface than what we're planning now," Holloway said. "Each year, more of the projects have to be nearer that wild urban interface ... It's just taking us a few years to get caught up on the planning, but that's where our focus is now." He said many current and future projects involve thinning from below and leaving large, fire resistant trees. "Our long-term goal when we have reduced enough fuels in a large enough area is to allow fires to burn naturally," he said. Some projects still could be done that are distant from interface areas, such as thinning in municipal watersheds, Holloway said. Locally, National Fire Plan funds have been used to thin small diameter trees and brush in the Ashland Watershed, the Ashland interface and the Green Springs area where homes sprinkle the forest, and along Siskiyou Summit railroad tracks where trains have sparked fires. The Applegate Ranger District also is using the funds to restore Forest Service land burned by last summer's Quartz Fire. The district has deferred any plans to salvage log the land. However, George Sexton of the Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center said, "Right here on the Medford District, the BLM claims the Kelsey Whiskey project will protect the forest by reducing fuels. However, this project is located many miles from the nearest home and the BLM proposes to cut down all of the big trees." Karen Gillespie, spokesperson for the Medford District BLM, said about nine homes are located in the project area west of Grants Pass. Additionally, the project area contains a late successional reserve for old growth trees and other special land allocations where large trees will not be cut. The BLM also is proposing to designate an "area of critical environmental concern" to further protect the area, Gillespie said. The project will reduce wildfire risk through ridgetop fuel breaks and other fuels reduction work, she said. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing