Democrats Push 'Roadless' Plan for Parks

July 15, 2002

By Audrey Hudson
THE WASHINGTON TIMES


Democrats this week hope to revise a stalled Clinton-era initiative to
stop timber-cutting in national forests, even as fires fueled by unkept
undergrowth ravage the West.
     

The so-called "roadless" plan would ban any new road building through
national forests, most of which are built and used by timber companies to
clear trees and by summer fire fighting crews to reach wildland fires.
     

The proposal is tied up in the courts — the subject of nine separate
lawsuits — but Democrats and a handful of Republicans will try tomorrow to
attach it to the 2003 Interior spending bill on the floor.
     

It will be a "treacherous task" to convince lawmakers to adopt such a
proposal at this time, said Rep. Scott McInnis, Colorado Republican and
chairman of the House Resources subcommittee on forests and forest health.
     

"This is a debate about whether we're going to bury our heads in the
ideological sand as wildfire ravages vast swaths of the western United
States," Mr. McInnis said. "If that's the debate they want to have, then by
all means, let's debate."
     

Labor unions that normally side with Democrats are instead lining up
behind Republicans in opposition to the measure, including the United
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, National Federation of
Federal Employees, Western Council of Industrial Workers, and Woodworkers
District One of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace
Workers.
     

"By limiting active management, the legislation will inhibit the Forest
Service's ability to control the fire risk in national forests," Douglas J.
McCarron, president of the carpenters union, said in a letter to Congress.
     

There are 22 million acres in roadless forests that are at moderate to
high risk of catching fire, according the Forest Service.
     

"These acres need active management in order to remain healthy," Mr.
McCarron said.
     

The bill's main sponsor, Rep. Jay Inslee, Washington Democrat, says his
measure will balance environmental and economic concerns.
     

"By protecting our remaining roadless areas, we will ensure that
pristine forests continue to provide sources of clean public drinking water,
an undisturbed habitat for fish and wildlife and thousands of acres for the
many forms of recreation we now enjoy," Mr. Inslee said in announcing the
measure.
     

The National Interagency Fire Center reported yesterday that more than
47,500 fires have burned 3.25 million acres this year. Forest Service Chief
Dale N. Bosworth said this season is quickly approaching the record set in
2000, when 123,000 fires burned 8.4 million acres.
     

This year's destructive wildfires have forced Mr. Bosworth to suspend
all nonemergency activities to devote full agency funding to fight the
fires.
     

Congress gave the agency $321 million for fire suppression, but Mr.
Bosworth is expecting that costs could reach as high as $1 billion.
     

In a July 8 memo addressed to all regional forests and obtained by The
Washington Times, Mr. Bosworth directed that no money be spent on land
acquisitions, grants, noncritical projects or travel not deemed critical,
including meetings and conferences.
     

Just before the disastrous 2000 fire season, the previous
administration moved $17 million for fire suppression to President Clinton's
prized lands legacy initiative.
     

"I recognize that this direction will have a significant effect on
agency operations," Mr. Bosworth said. "However, it is clear that the
priority of the Forest Service has been redefined by the current fire
season.
     

"We must be in a position to protect life and property from wildfire,
and do so within the funds available to the agency," Mr. Bosworth said.
     

To cover firefighting costs, the Forest Service will borrow money from
those accounts and replenish it later with emergency supplemental funds from
Congress, said Mark Rey, Agriculture Department undersecretary of natural
resources and environment.
     

"Right now, we are taking a prudent approach to defer expenditures in
case we need money for fire fighting. Then we will pay it back later. We
have the money to borrow, so we will get through this," Mr. Rey said.