Clinton proposes thinning and burning of private, state and tribal lands
By Jodie Salz Argonaut Staff
Wildfires burned nearly 6.7 million acres this year, which makes this one of the most destructive fire seasons in almost 50 years.
In response to the destruction, the Clinton administration made
a proposition last weekend to clear brush and trees on another
455,000 acres of federal lands next year.
This would be a 33 percent increase over what agencies had initially
planned. If accepted, a total of 1.8 million acres would be thinned
through logging and prescribed burns.
The thinning would occur mostly near fast-growing areas such
as Billings, Mont., and Flagstaff, Ariz.
Jim Lyons, an Agriculture Department undersecretary, told the
Idaho Spokesman Review that "the agencies are committed
to minimizing the losses from future, unnaturally intense fires."
This proposed thinning is part of the plan Clinton proposed Sept.
9, which would increase next year's firefighting and fire prevention
spending to $1.6 billion.
Department officials offered to help thin 315,000 acres of private,
state and tribal lands and told reporters they planned to clean
watersheds, stabilize soils and replant vegetation on about 750,000
acres of fire-damaged land.
Government officials seem to have varying opinions on the proposed
projects. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman,
Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, told the Idaho Spokesman Review the
effort is "totally inadequate."
Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, blasted Clinton's proposed roadless
initiative, which would ban road building on 43 million acres
of roadless forests.
"You're turning your back and walking away from living things
that Mother Nature will burn down," he said.
In defense of his position, Craig cites Forest Service figures
that show two-thirds of agency lands that burned in the West
this year were in wilderness and roadless areas.
Lyons opposes this viewpoint, saying that remote areas burned
because agency officials focused on fighting fires in areas where
the fire was a threat to communities.
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