View the "The Community and Forest Protection Act of 2003"

Senators introduce wildfire legislation with balanced approach for addressing fire threat
Bill would protect old growth, roadless areas and endangered species while eliminating process delay

June 26, 2003

Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) today introduced wildfire legislation that protects communities while at the same time maintaining strong environmental protections. The bill, titled “The Community and Forest Protection Act of 2003,” provides workable wildfire-fighting and prevention strategies while protecting the environment and public involvement.

“Last year, Congress unconscionably walked away from an opportunity to pass a balanced fire bill,” Wyden said. “Our legislation will give Congress the best hope to obtain the 60 votes needed to take meaningful action this year.”

“Today, there are 57 million acres of public lands at the highest risk of catastrophic forest fires,” Feinstein said. “If we don’t take action now, these forests could go up in smoke. This bill we introduced today is balanced, and it will reduce the risk of catastrophic fire in our country’s magnificent national forests.”

The Wyden-Feinstein bill:

· Recognizes the need to fund the protection of public and private forest lands.
The Community and Forest Protection Act of 2003 does not rely primarily on commercial sales to accomplish needed fire reduction work; instead it would authorize $3.8 billion for forest health projects over five years.

· Preserves the ability of citizens to appeal agency decisions, but eliminates up to several years of delay that currently can effectively render an agency decision moot.
Inside the wildland-urban interface area, projects could occur under a categorical exclusion, and those decisions would be exempted from administrative appeals. Outside the interface area, the bill would shorten the delay by folding the public comment period concurrently into the administrative appeals process, shortening the appeals period and agency response period from 45 to 30 days each, and allowing the appeals officer the flexibility to make necessary changes, saving from 90 days to several years.

· Protects environmentally sensitive areas while giving greater discretion to federal forestry employees and the states about where best to focus fire reduction efforts.
The bill specifically protects old growth, wilderness, wilderness study areas, and roadless areas, but unlike the Miller and Bingaman bills, gives forestry professionals flexibility to pursue needed fire-reduction projects outside the wildland-urban interface areas (up to 50 percent if requested by a state’s Governor).

· Requires courts to regularly re-examine the merits of temporary injunctions without attempting to influence the outcome of decisions on injunctive relief.
Unlike the Miller and Bingaman bills, the legislation requires lawyers for both sides to go to court 60 days after the issuance of a temporary injunction to allow the court to hear how the passage of time is affecting the underlying issues in the case. Unlike the House bill, their proposal doesn’t change the test for determining whether to issue a permanent injunction. The Senators have agreed that these modifications to judicial procedure go far enough to address the problem but do not compromise our independent judiciary – and therefore they will not support further changes to judicial process.

· Creates a pilot project to shorten the appeals process on the Biscuit Fire.
Under the proposal, the Administration can use the shortened process to salvage burned timber from the Biscuit fire, but any salvage actions would be monitored by a group chosen under the Western Governors Association collaborative process (including scientists, environmentalists, community-based organizations, and industry representatives) which would report to Congress on the ecological and economic effects of the pilot project.

· Authorizes grants to states and localities to address emergency threats to public safety in places like the San Bernardino, Cleveland, Deschutes and Siskiyou National Forests.
Drought and insect epidemics have killed millions of trees in Southern California and elsewhere, threatening catastrophic fire that could sweep through communities such as Lake Arrowhead, Big Bear, and Idyllwild in California, and Sisters and the Illinois Valley in Oregon. There is a shortfall of funding for emergency actions such as clearing brush around escape routes or around schools and other shelters. The bill attempts to address this need by authorizing up to $50 million in grants to states and localities annually where local officials and the Governor have declared emergencies.

“This legislation would speed up the environmental review process – without sacrificing the most important environmental protections. It also would protect the communities that face the highest risk and safeguard old growth stands and large trees,” Feinstein said. “And it would include sensible provisions on judicial review that will help projects go forward quickly without compromising our independent judiciary. These are provisions that make sense, and I hope that my colleagues will support it.”