By Tim Hearden, Capital Press
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack largely defended the federal government’s management of national forests amid criticisms that massive buildups of hazardous fuels have added to wildfires’ intensity.
Vilsack said there’s “no question there’s been more intense fires,” but the total number of fires this summer is down a bit from a normal year. He said his agency is committed to efforts like the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, a series of conservation projects on federal lands.
The secretary blamed this year’s budget sequestration for cutting the agency’s funding and said he’ll be working with Congress this fall to establish “a larger and more significant commitment to fire suppression.”
“We are treating more board-feet and we are committed to restoration,” Vilsack told the Capital Press during a conference call with reporters on Aug. 28. “In the meantime we’re going to have to fight these fires aggressively and do it in a way that doesn’t threaten life or limb.”
Vilsack’s comments come as about 50 major wildfires continue to burn throughout the West. Many of them are on U.S. Forest Service land, including the nearly 300-square-mile Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park, which has quickly grown into one of the largest wildfires in California history.
The fires have displaced or killed thousands of head of cattle, burned up federal grazing allotments and devastated timberland, prompting many ranchers and timber operators to call for more thinning of forests to reduce fires’ catastrophic effects.
For instance, ranchers suffering significant cattle losses and more than 280,000 acres of burned-out grazing land in the rugged Boise National Forest in Idaho voiced frustration last week with the Forest Service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management. They said the government won’t allow grazing and timber cuts, so it just burns.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack largely defended the federal government’s management of national forests amid criticisms that massive buildups of hazardous fuels have added to wildfires’ intensity.
Vilsack said there’s “no question there’s been more intense fires,” but the total number of fires this summer is down a bit from a normal year. He said his agency is committed to efforts like the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, a series of conservation projects on federal lands.
The secretary blamed this year’s budget sequestration for cutting the agency’s funding and said he’ll be working with Congress this fall to establish “a larger and more significant commitment to fire suppression.”
“We are treating more board-feet and we are committed to restoration,” Vilsack told the Capital Press during a conference call with reporters on Aug. 28. “In the meantime we’re going to have to fight these fires aggressively and do it in a way that doesn’t threaten life or limb.”
Vilsack’s comments come as about 50 major wildfires continue to burn throughout the West. Many of them are on U.S. Forest Service land, including the nearly 300-square-mile Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park, which has quickly grown into one of the largest wildfires in California history.
The fires have displaced or killed thousands of head of cattle, burned up federal grazing allotments and devastated timberland, prompting many ranchers and timber operators to call for more thinning of forests to reduce fires’ catastrophic effects.
For instance, ranchers suffering significant cattle losses and more than 280,000 acres of burned-out grazing land in the rugged Boise National Forest in Idaho voiced frustration last week with the Forest Service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management. They said the government won’t allow grazing and timber cuts, so it just burns.
Its all there: sequestration, the Forest Service budget, and the oh so effective Collaborative
Forest Landscape Restoration Program. Its all USDA, Grade A, b.s. And did you notice he was asked about "the federal
government’s management of national forests" and that " massive
buildups of hazardous fuels have added to wildfires’ intensity", but his response addressed neither? Instead he talked about “a larger and more significant commitment to fire
suppression.” In other words, more money and more people to fight fires, nothing on Forest Service management.
The fires’ intensity prompted U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Idaho Republican Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo to promise an effort this fall to pass a forest management plan that includes more thinning of overgrown forest stands and proper grazing. In the House of Representatives, Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., is advancing the Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act, which aims to re-establish a priority for actively managing federal lands through timber production and other measures.
Congrats to the Senators and Rep's who are trying to put together something that will pass this Congress. But let's face it, this problem will not be solved until Congress grants the same authority to waive environmental laws to the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior that they've already granted to the Secretary of Homeland Security.
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