News Release
Governor Requests Aggressive Action To Ease Gridlock on Federal Lands
6/26/2002
Meta Boyer
406-444-5665
meboyer@state.mt.us
The letter, which was initiated by Governor Martz, urges the Forest Service to move immediately forward with the implementation of the national fire plan. The plan was announced in Boise, Idaho, in May of this year. Governors from Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah joined in signing the letter.
"We applaud your efforts to focus national attention on creating healthy ecosystems, however we are compelled to advise you that the discussion cannot be a lengthy one," said the governors in their letter to Bosworth. "Currently, Western states have a diminishing infrastructure necessary to provide the on-ground operations capable of treating high-risk forests. Any unnecessary delays in the implementation of the laudable goals outlined in the national fire plan and the 10-year implementation plan... will only see further erosion of that infrastructure."
"As we are witnessing in Colorado and Arizona this year, and as we have witnessed in Montana the past two years, the consequences to doing nothing are unacceptable," said the Governors in the letter. "For the sake of our local communities and the health of our environment, we simply cannot delay in moving aggressively to return health to our forests. Our families and our communities are depending upon it."
In their letter, the five governors outlined the recognition that fire is a natural part of the forest ecosystem, and that it should continue to be a tool of forest management. "However, we must not, after 100 years of successful fire suppression, now change policies and allow fires to run unchecked," they stated.
The governors also recognized that the Forest Service, under the direction of Bosworth, for focusing national attention on the need for an aggressive campaign to restore the health of our national forests.
On June 25, Governor Martz became Chair of the Western Governor's Association, an independent, nonprofit organization which represents the governors of 18 states and three U.S.-Flag islands in the Pacific. Governor Martz's top priority during her tenure as WGA Chair is to address forest health and the threats of wildland fires. To that end, WGA Policy Resolution 02-J (see attached) was sponsored by Governors Martz, Kempthorne, Kitzhaber and Hull and passed at the recent meeting in Phoenix. The policy resolution supports full implementation of the 10-year strategy entitled 'A Collaborative Approach for Reducing Wildland Fire Risks to Communities and the Environment' as agreed to in May in Boise, Idaho.
The letter to Bosworth was signed prior to yesterday's conclusion of the Western Governor's Association meeting in Phoenix. Some of the nation's worst wildfires are currently burning out of control in that state.
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Attachments:
Letter to Dale Bosworth
Download WGA Policy Resolution 02-J at http://www.westgov.org/wga/meetings/forest_health.pdf
June 24, 2002
Dale Bosworth
Chief of the U.S. Forest Service
Dear Dale,
As wildfires in the west continue to consume enormous acres of forested land, let me first thank you for your public comments and leadership with respect to the enormous task of focusing public attention on the need for an aggressive campaign to restore the health of our national forests. The catastrophic wildfires that impacted lesser-populated states in the West the past two years are now impacting more densely populated states like Colorado and Arizona.
Fire is a natural part of the ecosystem. It should continue to be a tool and a part of our ecosystem. However, we must not, after 100 years of successful fire suppression, now change policies and allow fires to run unchecked.
We are already bracing for the worst fire season in our nation's history. Undoubtedly, drought is a major factor, but let us not ignore the fact that our nation's forests are overgrown and unhealthy. While fire can be a natural part of our ecosystem, the intensity and the ferocity of the fires we are seeing today is anything but natural.
We applaud your efforts to focus national attention on creating healthy ecosystems; however we are compelled to advise you that the discussion cannot be a lengthy one. Currently, Western states have a diminishing infrastructure necessary to provide on-the-ground operations capable of treating high-risk forests. Any unnecessary delays in the implementation of the laudable goals outlined in the national fire plan and the 10-year Implementation Plan that the Governors developed with the Bush Administration will only see further erosion of that infrastructure.
Dale, time is of the essence. Simply put, the process is broken. We spend too much time litigating the finer points of process and not enough time focusing on creating, restoring and maintaining the health of our forests. We simply cannot promote the health of our forests, the health of our wildlife, the health of our citizens and the safety of our property by letting our forests burn to the ground.
Countless communities in our Western states have a proud tradition of providing the necessary business services that can help restore the health of western forests. Furthermore, those communities and businesses provide consumer products in demand by the American people and employment opportunities that rural America desperately needs. Nonetheless, your responsible discussions about creating healthy ecosystems will be meaningless if those communities and businesses no longer exist because of catastrophic fires.
We, the undersigned Governors, urge you to act quickly and aggressively to move past the gridlock that is delaying such actions. Small businesses in the intermountain West are willing to assist you in establishing a "desired future condition" for our national forests. By being proactive, we can have healthy forests that also provide consumer products and employment opportunities. Additionally, we can minimize taxpayer expense and wasted resources that are too often the only products of catastrophic wildfire.
We have made the firm commitment to work with your office, the Bush Administration, and with Congress to bring common sense forest restoration back to our local communities. We ask for your support in ensuring that Congress fully funds all components of the National Forest Plan.
For the health of our environment and the health of western communities, I urge you to take meaningful action to ease the gridlock. As we are witnessing in Colorado and Arizona this year, and in other areas of the West in the past two years, the consequences to doing nothing are unacceptable. For the sake of our local communities and the health of our environment, we simply cannot delay in moving aggressively to return health to our forests. Our families and our communities are depending upon all of us.
Thanks again for your leadership and your commitment to moving this issue forward.
Sincerely,
JUDY MARTZ
Governor of Montana
JIM GERINGER
Governor of Wyoming
JANE DEE HULL
Governor of Arizona
GARY JOHNSON
Governor of New Mexico
DIRK KEMPTHORNE
Governor of Idaho
MIKE LEAVITT
Governor of Utah
