Proposed wildfire law addresses forest fuel loads

U. S. Congressman Paul Gosar is fixing to introduce one of the most sweeping pieces of legislation to address management of public lands in years. Entitled the Catastrophic Wildfire Protection Act of 2012, it would allow for the designation of "at-risk forest" lands, on which federal land managers would be required to implement "wildfire prevention projects." Those projects would sidestep many of the regulatory steps currently required under the National Environmental Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act, and allow logging and grazing as a means of reducing fuel loads. The law is a direct response to Arizona's Wallow and Rodeo-Chediski and New Mexico's Las Conches fires that have burned hundreds of thousands of acres and the growing disenchantment with the federal government's response to prevent future fires. According to Gosar, the bill has 18 co-sponsors and will be introduced next week. It affects only lands managed by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management...more

So, if the high fuel load is in a Park or a Wildlife Refuge, the public has to accept the risk?

Still, sounds like a good bill.