Bush Fire Plan Mirrors State Policies

COLUMBUS, Ohio, September 9, 2002 (ENS) - The Bush administration's plan for reducing the risk of forest fires counters almost 30 years of federal policy, argues an Ohio State University researcher who wrote a new book on government forest issues.

President George W. Bush has said he wants to ease restrictions on forest thinning and timber cutting projects in national public forests because of the tremendous amount of fire damage in the western states this summer. But Tomas Koontz, an assistant professor of natural resources at Ohio State, says the president's proposed plan seems to coincide more with the ideologies of state level forest agencies than with existing federal policies.

Changing those policies could have serious ramifications for environmental protection and citizen input on decisions affecting 191 million acres of U.S. national forests, Koontz says.

Koontz is the author of "Federalism in the Forest: National versus State Natural Resource Policy." In that book, he takes a look at the regulatory differences between federal and state forest agencies, concluding that the perceived benefits of the two governing methods depend on what results people seek.

"With a few exceptions, state governments are traditionally less interested in environmental protection," Koontz said. "They want to maximize profits and boost the economy. On the other hand, federal leaders are charged with providing environmental protection for national forests as well as citizen access to policy making."

After interviewing forest officials, attending public forestry meetings and analyzing the results of a questionnaire completed by 75 state and federal forest agency members, Koontz saw a pattern in how different levels of government prioritized activities related to forests. He found that states focus on using public forests to generate jobs and income, while federal forest officials focus more on upholding certain standards, such as ensuring citizen participation and environmental protection.

"State forest policy in the 1990s resembled federal forest policy prior to 1970," Koontz said. "State officials continue to face relatively few legal restrictions on timber production, and there is almost no allowance for citizen power to appeal decisions."

With the passing of the National Environmental Policy Act in 1969 and the National Forest Management Act in 1976, national forests gained a good deal of protection from logging interests. Both acts also emphasized preservation and soliciting public participation and input.

The Bush fire plan, dubbed the "Healthy Forests Initiative," would remove most environmental restrictions from forest management projects deemed high priority for reducing wildfire risk.

The president's plan would create partnerships with timber companies and other groups, encouraging them to perform fire management projects in exchange for the timber they cut.

"President Bush has said that if American taxpayers want to save money, some of those big trees need to be included in the deal," Koontz said. "The environmentalists counter that these forests need to be protected, and that throwing big money making trees into the mix just to entice the timber companies isn't the way to go."