Endangering Our National Parks: An Editorial (cont'd)

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"HEALTHY FORESTS" MEANS HIGHER FIRE RISKS

After August's Aspen Fire swept through 84,750 acres destroyed 330 homes and buildings in Arizona, George Bush stood in front of the charred trees and pushed his "Healthy Forests Initiative" as a way to combat fires.

This plan, according to a White House press release, "Focuses on reducing the risk of catastrophic fire by thinning dense undergrowth and brush in priority locations."

The proposal allows logging companies to cull areas of up to 1,000 acres, on all 190 million acres of our public lands, without having to undergo the usual environmental review. But science doesn't show that this program will help stop forest fires.

The initiative actually promotes the logging of medium and large trees in the hearts of forests, far from where fires threaten homes and communities. "Healthy Forests" has nothing to do with clearing the small trees, underbrush, and other natural tinder near forest edges--the true culprits in rapid wildfire spread into human communities.

In fact, according to the CPAL, "Government studies have shown that logging larger trees not only threaten water quality, fish and wildlife, and forest health, but can also increase fire risks."

In an open letter from firefighters, smokejumpers, and NPS fire technicians to Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Agriculture Secretary Anne Venneman, these experts explain that, among other problems caused by timber harvesting, "Logged units are rarely maintained to control the prolific growth of flammable small trees, brush, and invasive weeds. This greatly increases the fire risks and fuel hazards."

Got that? "Healthy Forests" will actually increase the risk of forest fires. It will also cost taxpayers $417 million in 2004. Yep: we're actually going to pay the logging companies to go in, cut down our old growth forests, and sell them for profit.

These parks belong to us, the American people, not to the White House, not to the timber companies, not to local municipalities, and not to the mining industries. What's more, it's our money being spent—or misspent—to maintain them. It is our right to enjoy these parks, and our responsibility to protect them. The organizations listed below can help you find our more about our parks, the fight to protect them, and what you can do to help everything from the Grand Canyon to the battlefield at Gettysburg to those Great Smokey Mountains.

For more information:
National Park Service
Campaign to Protect America's Lands
National Parks Conservation Association
Association of National Park Rangers

Copyright © 2003 by Newsweek Budget Travel, Inc.