THE WESTERNER

Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Forest Service chief wants Wallow Fire area rehabilitated quickly

The head of the U.S. Forest Service wants an accelerated rehabilitation of the lands devastated by the Wallow Fire. Tom Tidwell says the response to the fire that burned more than 538,000 acres in Arizona and New Mexico must be immediate and sustained. Tidwell also directed agency personnel to proceed expeditiously so that burned timber can be used for higher valued wood products. The Forest Service says the trees could provide 162,000 tons or 26.5 million board feet of material for wood products. Forest Service work crews have already seeded 99 percent of 80,000 burned acres, reduced the risk of falling trees along 300 miles of roads and identified over 38 miles of power line corridors for emergency hazardous tree removal. AP

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: Quickly? You don't rehab 500,000 acres quickly....unless you are city born and bred. The FS chief is a poor representative of multiple use and conservation management. I doubt snapping his fingers will make the grass grow and new trees sprout. But you can be sure the FS will attempt to use this as leverage for more taxpayer money, most of which will be spent foolishly.; 11:20 AM