http://www.wilderness.org/NewsRoom/WildfireWatch/20030522.cfm
Wildfire Watch Bosworth Makes False Claim Protecting Communities from Wildland Fires is NOT a Forest Service Priority Wilderness Watch ** Volume 1 (May 22, 2003) - In an interview on Wednesday, http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=61959 May 21st, 2003, Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth hailed House approval of the Healthy Forest Restoration Act (HR 1904) to speed thinning of federal forests, and said forest managers would concentrate efforts to reduce the risk of catastrophic fires near homes and property. In addition, Bosworth claimed that the Forest Service ''will continue to put priority around communities." He said, "We need to start (thinning work) at the communities and work out from there.'' However, recent reports by the General Accounting Office, USDA Forest Service, and USFS Inspector General, reveal that the Forest Service's claim to be focusing their efforts around protecting at-risk communities is completely false. The Facts * On May 14, 2003, the General Accounting Office released findings on the analysis of fuel reduction projects conducted under the National Fire Plan in fiscal years 2001 and 2002. Only 1.5 million of the 4.7 million acres treated were located within the wildland-urban interface. (GAO-03-689R, page 3-4) * The same GAO report also revealed that "the Forest Service does not have a uniformly applied definition of the wildland-urban interface. Consequently, individual forests may have their own definition or no definition at all . . ." (GAO-03-689R, page 3) * A January 2002 General Accounting Office report notes that federal agencies have failed to identify and prioritize high-risk communities. "Therefore, it is not possible to determine if the $796 million appropriated for hazardous fuel reduction in fiscal years 2001 and 2002 is targeted to the communities and other areas at highest risk of severe wildfires. (General Accounting Office, "Severe Wildland Fires" GAO-02-259, page 4.January 2002.) * During fiscal year 2002, just over a third of the acres where the Forest Service planned to reduce hazardous fuels were in areas in and around communities. In 2003, the agency's plan is for only 55% of acres treated to be in "wildland-urban" areas. (USDA Forest Service, FY 2003 President's Budget Overview," page B-13. February 4, 2002) * Further, federal agencies lack a coordinated management plan, required eight years ago. A March 2002 GAO report notes that "over half of all federal land management units [1,384] still do not have fire management plans that meet the requirements of the 1995 fire management policy." The report further observes that these management units have not identified high-risk areas, specifically communities in the wildland-urban interface that are the most threatened by fire. (General Accounting Office, "Wildland Fire Management." GAO-02-158, page 2. March 2002). * The March 2002 GAO report also found that federal agencies have no standard to measure results. The report noted that "although the Forest Service and Interior have received substantial additional funding, they have not yet developed performance measures to determine the extent that these additional resources have resulted in more effective fire fighting as envisioned under the National Fire Plan." (General Accounting Office, "Wildland Fire Management." GAO-02-158, page 2. March 2002). * A USFS Inspector General's report from November 2001 found that the Bitterroot National Forest in Montana had misspent roughly $2.5 million of funding, designated by Congress to implement the National Fire Plan, on projects such as timber sales and permit to harvest mushrooms. (USDA, Forest Service Inspector General, "Forest Service National Fire Plan Implementation." Report No. 08601-26-F. November 2001) For More Information * Statesman Journal interview (Salem, OR) http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=61959 ** This is the first in a series of Wildfire Watches. As the wildfire debate unfolds in Congress, and as the rhetoric heats up, look to the Wildfire Watch for the true facts. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get A Free Psychic Reading! Your Online Answer To Life's Important Questions. http://us.click.yahoo.com/aM1XQD/od7FAA/ySSFAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
