Speech
Montana Wood Products Convention
Remarks of Governor Judy Martz
Polson
8/28/2002
Good afternoon, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to come and visit with you.
I’d like to extend a specific thank you to your Executive Vice President – Ellen Engstedt. Ellen is a great advocate in Helena on behalf of your issues.
[President’s Announcement]
Let me start today by saying – thank God we finally have a President who gets it!
Wasn’t last week incredible? There’s a reason you elected George W. Bush to be our nation’s president, and I’ll tell you what – it’s going to pay off. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a president who listens to the natural resource needs of the West – and who actually acts on them.
Last Tuesday, when I got the call to meet with the President in Oregon, we hoped he would make a major announcement regarding the need for more active management of Western forests to reduce fire danger.
We hoped that he would directly address the need to streamline environmental regulations that currently serve to stall forest management projects and tie the hands of local forest managers.
We hoped for a major announcement – and our President came through with flying colors.
President Bush did more than just come out to the West to feel the pain of the people. He came to take action. He recognizes, like we do, that there is a fine line between access to courts and abuse of the system.
The public has the right to use the court system to appeal projects, but we simply must put an end to lawsuits whose only purpose is to stall reasonable forest management projects.
During his visit, I had the distinct privilege of traveling with him as he toured the Squire Fire in Oregon.
During his visit, President Bush said, “we’re here to put into practice common sense policies to conserve forestlands. Good forest policy is not only important for the conservation and preservation of forest lands – it’s good for our economy.”
The President is not ashamed that managing our forests will help stimulate our economy and create good paying jobs.
And neither am I.
I have great confidence that the President has a firm grasp of the problem facing our national forests. He recognizes that - while our forests burn and continue to deteriorate - our professional land managers continue to be hamstrung by a broken process.
[Bitterroot Salvage Operations]
In addition to his tour, I had the opportunity to meet with the President for about thirty minutes to discuss forest health in Montana.
In that conversation, I shared with him a stark example, right here in Montana, of how horribly broken the current federal process is.
I shared with him the story that many of you know only too well – the story of salvage operations on the 2000 Bitterroot Fires.
I have in front of me the reams of paper created for the environmental review on federal forestlands after the 2000 Bitterroot Fires.
These documents represent 15,000 person days or the equivalent of 57 MAN-YEARS of work.
That’s right – had one individual created the documents you see before you, it would have taken them 57 years of full-time work to complete the job.
Keep this in mind - 57 man-years of work were completed, and over one million dollars were spent for what ended up to be a mere 15,000 acres out of 300,000 acres of burned, dead timber.
And – after all that work – the federal government still ended up in court.
No more feel good pontification about the problem. We need Congress to act and act now.
The federal review was completed well after the State of Montana had already implemented active management efforts to restore the health of our state lands in the same area by the timely removal of burned timber.
While the federal government was spending one million dollars to fight off inevitable lawsuits, Montana generated over FIVE million dollars for schools from sales on the 2000 Bitterroot fires.
You want to talk about improving Montana’s economy?
Show me loggers at work, mills at full capacity, and loaded trucks and I’ll show you a stronger economy… AND a healthier forest.
[Extreme Environmentalists’ Approach to Forest Health]
Meanwhile, extremist organizations, those who claim to care about the environment, are promoting a plan that only protects homesteads.
The Wall Street Journal defined the environmentalists’ plans best in the following statement, “cloaked in feel-good words about ‘thinning’ and ‘community protection zones’, their ideas offered no real change from their standard, hands-off approach to forest management.”
Their plan only attempts to protect homes.
It’s high time for Montanans to ask - why are some extreme organizations now only worried about home safety? Aren’t these the same groups that have said they defend spotted owl and bull trout habitats?
In contrast, our plan offers protection for endangered species habitat, watersheds, old growth timber and homes.
You tell me, who are the real environmentalists?
Apparently these extreme groups haven’t looked at streams choked with mud and eroding hillsides.
Apparently they haven’t seen what happens to an old-growth forest that hasn’t been managed, when it’s hit with fire temperatures over two thousand degrees, and winds like a tornado.
But, after last week’s fire tour, our President has seen those images. And we in the West can be proud to see him place such a high priority on healthy forest initiatives.
[Daschle Amendment]
Healthy forests are no longer a partisan issue. This issue cuts across political boundaries. Members of both parties in Congress recognize that the analysis paralysis our nation is facing is no longer acceptable. Members of both parties are finally saying no to endless lawsuits and appeals.
Case in point:
Most of you know of the ‘Black Hills Proposal’ that exempts timber harvests and active management from lawsuits and appeals on federal lands. The measure, however, applies only to federal lands in South Dakota.
In submitting this legislation, Senate Majority Leader Daschle said, “Existing administrative and legal processes cannot address the fire danger in time to enable the Secretary of Agriculture to take action to reduce danger.”
He went on to say that, “Any action authorized by this Section shall not be subject to judicial review by any court of the United States.”
No appeals, no courts, no litigation – nothing to hold back the process of bringing common sense back to forest management.
Last week, President Bush announced that he supports these exemptions for ALL OF THE WEST.
But he can’t do it alone.
The President is ready to sign a bill.
We need to do whatever it takes to make sure that bill gets to his desk.
Because, as you and I know, this isn’t just the President’s initiative – this is an American initiative.
It’s well past time to end obstructionist appeals on Federal Forest Lands.
Take the Montana region for example - according to a July 2002 U.S. Forest Service Report, in the last two fiscal years, 35 out 35 projects using mechanical treatment to reduce hazardous fuel treatments were appealed.
At least Montana is first in something.
Like South Dakota, Montana cannot afford to wait for the Forest Service to wind its way through the maze of appeals and litigation to address these critical issues.
Bluntly, if its good enough for South Dakota, its good enough for Montana.
[Governor’s Role in Healthy Forest Initiatives]
Over the past two years, I have testified before Congress three times about healthy forest management policies.
It is my top priority as Chair of the Western Governors Association.
The last time I was back in Washington, DC, I saw a clear change in the attitude about forest management. For the first time, senators on both sides of the aisle were supportive of forest health measures.
Apparently, it took seeing the smoke from the Potomac to bring sound policies back to forest management.
We can only hope that this isn’t just a short-term interest that will go away when the smoke clears.
I will continue to work on behalf of all forest managers in Montana to make sure that this issue remains top of mind for all elected officials.
And I will continue that fight until we have a bill signed by the President that brings common sense back into the management of our forests, a stronger economy for Montana and health to our public lands.
We’re on the right track, and together we truly can bring common sense back to government.
Thank you, good afternoon, and
God Bless America
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