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SUNNY Temp: 94 °F Wind: NW at 4 mph Sunday, September 28, 2003 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine Joy Magazine Tempo A & E RogueValleyAutoFinder RogueValleyHomeFinder Real Estate Showcase Wellness Connection Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Employment Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend May 18, 2003 Walden says forest bill critics miss the point By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune To paraphrase Mark Twain, Rep. Greg Walden says points made in criticism about a forest bill he has co-sponsored have been greatly exaggerated. Take the much-lambasted potential for 1,000-acre clearcuts in the name of insect and disease control contained in the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003, he said. Environmental groups have uniformly slammed that aspect of the bill, saying the clearcuts demonstrate the measure expected to come before the full House on Tuesday is about timber harvests, not forest health. Nonsense, responds the Republican. Advertisement "The 1,000 acres is not the purpose, goal or intent of the language in the bill but it sure makes a great sound bite," said Walden, who represents the Second Congressional District, which includes Jackson and Josephine counties and all of Eastern Oregon. The focus of the bill is to improve forest health, reduce fire hazard through aggressive thinning and study disease and insect infestations, said Walden, co-author of the legislation with Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo. "We knew we were going to run into a chainsaw," he said of adamant opposition by many environmental groups. "But if you care about air quality, water quality, healthy forests and you want to do something to prevent catastrophic fire, then you have to change the law," he added later. Dominick DellaSala, an Ashland-based forest ecologist for the World Wildlife Fund, said opponents are concerned the measure will ax environmental laws to allow the timber industry to cut large trees in the guise of forest health projects. "It will set a dangerous precedent in the way the Forest Service is going to be dealing with the issue of fires on our public lands," he stressed. "This will increase uncharacteristic fires, and do little to reduce the risk for rural communities. "This smacks of timber industry influence," he said. The bill would largely permit the removal of large trees, which are the most fire resistant, while leaving the more fire-prone smaller trees, he said. "The other provisions of the bill are consistent with the Bush administration’s efforts to shut communities out of the planning process and bypass NEPA," he said of the National Environmental Policy Act. "They want to significantly limit a citizen’s right to appeal unlawful logging practices," he added. Moreover, the bill is not based on science, he said. "We need to be working in the interface areas with communities to help them become firewise," he said. "We don’t need to be ‘thinning’ big trees in roadless and wilderness areas. We’re disappointed Congressman Walden has backed this." But Walden, a member of the Agriculture Committee, reiterates that the criticism is way off base. "We’re trying to focus our effort on watersheds and the wildland urban interface in this bill," he said of thinning public forests to reduce extreme fire hazards. The bill would give the secretaries of Agriculture and Interior authority to approve timber harvests as big as 1,000 acres while developing programs to control insect infestation and disease. "What we’re looking for is the best management technique to get in and deal with areas that are being ravaged," he said. New language in the bill requires peer review of the proposed scientific studies, he added. There is no effort in the bill to skirt environmental laws, he said. "With the NEPA process, what we’re trying to do is get at what we believe is the heart of the problem, which is that these projects can be delayed to the point great damage can be done to the environment while we wait to go in and do removal of dead trees and thin out the underbrush," he said. The streamlined approach contained in the bill adopts a concept endorsed by the Western Governors Association, he said. Basically, that allows public input in forest thinning projects while reducing red tape, he noted. "We believe this would involve more activity at the front end of the process," he said. "Our goal is to get the public involved in the beginning of the process, not tie it up at the end through postcard appeals. The bill includes a forest conservation reserve program to allow private landowners to put timberlands into a conservation reserve, he said. Up to 1 million acres of private land could be used for habitat for threatened and endangered species. "The alternative is to keep doing what we’re doing," he said. "The alternative is to burn more forests than we did last summer, spend billions of dollars trying to clean up the mess and put out the fires. "This is not rocket science," he said. "It is just basic, sound silvicultural practices." Despite the criticism, the bill now has been endorsed by nearly 100 lawmakers, including 16 Democrats, Walden said. "It will have a tougher road in the Senate," Walden said. "There will be some things we will end up negotiating on in conference. But we’re not going to give away the whole bill." Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Rogue Valley Auto Finder Rogue Valley Job Finder --> Rogue Valley Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Real Estate Showcase Food for Thought Hike of the Week Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Openings Prime Times