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EDITORIAL: Fanning the Flames: Bogus 'Forest Recovery' Law Should Be Axed

Posted on: Wednesday, 17 May 2006, 12:02 CDT

By The Sacramento Bee, Calif.

May 17--Exploiting public concern about forest fires, Republicans in Congress are about to launch another assault on the nation's environmental laws today when the House votes on House Resolution 4200, the deceptively named "Forest Emergency Recovery and Research Act."

It would suspend federal laws, including the Endangered Species Act, so the U.S. Forest Service could quickly cut down swaths of trees on federal land after a forest fire. The bill's author is Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon and it is cosponsored by 149 representatives, including local congressmen John Doolittle, Dan Lungren, Wally Herger and Richard Pombo.

Forest Service managers complain that red tape and court challenges make it difficult to salvage trees following fires, allowing valuable timber to fall and rot on the forest floor. While there may be a need to expedite salvage logging in some cases, intensive "recovery" efforts after a fire sometimes can do more harm than good, as University of California scientist Peter Moyle pointed out in a commentary in The Bee yesterday.

When poorly planned and managed, salvage logging can hurt forest streams, introduce invasive species to the forest, eliminate snag trees needed for wildlife and actually increase fire dangers, especially when slash and other debris are left behind.

HR 4200 goes too far in eliminating public review of salvage logging plans. It is reminiscent of the salvage logging bill of the 1990s, which resulted in clear-cutting of vast areas of the national forest, including areas that were unscarred by fires.

Democrats are planning to offer several amendments to eliminate the worst of Walden's bill. The better outcome would be for Congress to reject HR 4200 and work with respected ecologists, such as Moyle, on more reasoned approaches to helping forests recover from blazes.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Sacramento Bee

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