Washington
DC Office
307 Dirksen Senate
Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: 202-224-6441
Fax: 202-224-1724
Wyoming Office
P.O. Box 22201
Casper, WY 82602
307-261-6413
|
|
| |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Contact: Cameron Hardy
202-224-6441 |
 |
|
| |
Thomas: Healthy Forests Act Not Being Implemented
Not a single forest fuels reduction project undertaken in Wyo under HFRA |
| |
July 19th, 2006 - WASHINGTON – During a hearing today to provide oversight of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA), U.S. Senator Craig Thomas said the Forest Service has fallen behind in implementing fuels reduction projects to reduce fire dangers nationwide, particularly in Wyoming and the West.
“When only 77,368 acres have been treated in the last three years out of 20 million authorized by Congress, there’s definitely something wrong. Not a single acre of hazardous fuels reduction work has been undertaken in Wyoming under the authority,” Thomas said.
“At this time of high forest fire dangers, the lack of implementation is unacceptable. The Forest Service’s inaction on fuels reduction could compromise people’s safety and make firefighting efforts that much harder.”
“The goal here is to streamline forest management projects to improve forest health and reduce wildfires. The Healthy Forests Act was meant to make our forests better off – I don’t think we’re meeting our nation’s forest needs if the Forest Service remains painstakingly slow in getting the work done,” Thomas said.
The HFRA was signed into law in 2003. Title I, the main thrust of the bill, authorized the Forest Service and BLM to conduct hazardous fuels reduction projects on up to 20 million acres of lands in specific circumstances -- within the wildland-urban interface, at-risk land in proximity to a municipal watersheds, land experiencing an insect or disease epidemic, or endangered species habitat.
Potential areas that could benefit from HFRA in Wyoming include a number of forests that have experienced the ravages of beetle kill. Areas hit by the lodge pole pine beetle in the Medicine Bow, the spruce beetle in the Shoshone, and the douglas fir and pine beetles in the Bighorn National Forest are all possible sites for hazardous fuel reduction projects.
A large percentage of the high risk fire (Fire Risk Condition Class 2 and 3) lands are located in the West, but more than 20 percent of the Title I accomplishments cited by witnesses at the hearing have occurred in the Southeastern United States, which include less than 7 percent of National Forest System lands.
###
|
|
|
|
|
