Forestry policy is hampered by politics
By Mary Jo Pitzl
The Arizona Republic
June 24, 2002 12:00:00
The fires ravaging northeast Arizona are incinerating the world's largest contiguous area of ponderosa pine, Gov. Jane Hull said Sunday. But it didn't have to be this way.
That's because for the past century, the United States has let its forests grow thick with underbrush, creating lush, rustic landscapes that, with the right conditions, can turn into potent tinderboxes.
But turning that policy around has ignited a firestorm of its own, pitting politicians against environmentalists and forest dwellers against forest managers.
As the "Rodeo-Chediski" fire roared through Arizona's high country, governors from Western states meeting in Phoenix this week launched a broadside against environmentalists, who the governors and others say have opposed controlled burns that would reduce fire-prone undergrowth.
U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., joined the chorus, saying that environmentalists have pressured Congress not to spend money on the burns. In an interview Sunday with KTAR-AM (620), he said the Forest Service spends 40 percent of its annual budget defending itself against environmental groups.
Hull criticized the lawsuits and layers of administrative process that she said have prevented more aggressive efforts to clear the nation's forests of dense underbrush.
"We've got to clean up these forests," Hull said. "Mother Nature is telling us to do so."
Spreading the message is one thing; practicing it can be quite another.
For example, forest officials said prescribed burns in the northern part of Hop Canyon, southwest of Show Low, could have slowed the growth of the Rodeo fire.
But political wrangling prevented the burns because residents north of Hop Canyon did not want smoke and ashes coming into their area, said Chaden Palmer, a Forest Service spokesman.
Research done at the University of Arizona's Laboratory of Tree Ring Research shows that ponderosa pines can withstand frequent, low-intensity fires.
Researchers have found 300-year-old ponderosa pines with a history of 15 to 20 low-intensity fires throughout their life span. The trees survived, leaving "fire scars" on their tree rings.
All that changed a century ago, said Tom Swetnam, the lab's director.
"You get to 1890 and 1900, and no more fire scars after that point," Swetnam said.
Swetnam and others attribute that to a policy of putting out all fires.
Small fires clean out forest underbrush without harming the taller trees.
But when the forest floor gets cluttered with vegetation, it creates a tinder pile that allows fires to climb to unnatural heights, burning the green parts of trees and fueling forest fires.
National policy on fire suppression began to shift after the "Yellowstone" fire in 1988, and with greater vigor after the Los Alamos, N.M., fires two years ago.
"It's going to take us decades to get out of the problem," Swetnam said. "Fire - nature - is not going to wait for us."
Swetnam said humans also should contemplate some of the larger causes of the flaming forests.
Drought is the wild card that has compounded this summer's fires and may prolong reforestation. And the forecast is for more extreme drought years, an outlook that many have linked to global warming.
On Sunday, the Western Governors' Association pledged to lobby Congress for money, manpower and programs to prevent devastating wildfires such as those now burning in Arizona, Colorado and other Western states.
They unveiled a plan for reducing wildland fire risks that was two years in the making. It calls for a range of actions to reduce wildfire risk, including volunteer actions on the part of people who live near forests, prescribed burns and logging to thin out the stands.
Montana Gov. Judy Martz crossed swords with Sierra Club officials about the role of timber logging.
Martz defended the practice as necessary to reduce fire risk in the backcountry.
But Rob Smith, Southwest representative of the Sierra Club, said because it's hard to predict where in the thousands of acres of backcountry a fire may occur, it's wiser to spend money and manpower where man meets forest.
"Thinning needs to occur near communities, not in the backcountry," Smith said.
Where some see devastation, others see promise.
Charles Babbitt, an attorney and member of the Maricopa County Audubon Society, said he doubts that even "perfect forest management" could have prevented the Rodeo-Chediski fires because drought conditions are so extreme.
"Fires don't destroy the forest, they will change it," he said. "We have to take a little longer view of things. It will take decades."
Also contributing to this story were Republic reporters Kristen Go and Max Jarman and the Associated Press.
News on
azcentral.com
• Breaking News
• News From Home
• AP Wire
Email newsletters
Sign up to receive breaking news alerts, delivered to your inbox free whenever big news happens.
arizonarepublic.com |
