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Healthy Forests Initiative: The Launch Following President Bush's August 22 announcement of the Administration's "Healthy Forests Initiative" to implement an aggressive, long-term thinning regime to treat serious fuel loading on federal lands, legislative proposals to enable the initiative quickly emerged in both the House and Senate. Both the Senate proposal, sponsored by Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and Pete Domeneci (R-New Mexico), and the House version, sponsored by Scott McInnis (R-Colorado), set total treatment goals similar to those proposed by the President and call for limits on the application of the National Environmental Policy Act to prevent unreasonable delays of identified thinning projects. The Senate version has had most of the spotlight, since it may not be attached as an amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill without a "filibuster-proof" supermajority of 60 votes; however, the amendment's advocates -- mostly Republicans -- have enough support to prevent the larger bill from coming to the floor for a vote without the amendment. The Senate Democrats' position, supported by Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) and Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico) would direct most activity to "urban interface" forests -- proposing treatment for some 5 million acres of federal forest, rather than the 10 million the Administration has identified, and relax fewer restrictions. In an attempt to break through to the 60-vote majority needed, influential Senate Democrats Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Dianne Feinstein (D-California) attempted to define a "middle-ground" position that could move moderates without alienating core supporters -- but reaped only a scolding from the Sierra Club for their efforts, apart from a comment from Ag Undersecretary Mark Rey that their plan was "a step forward." In the meantime, Rey, who oversees the Forest Service, has suggested that significant work may proceed without legislative revision. "We're trying to reinvent how we comply with NEPA," he stated on September 22. "We want to take it from something long, complicated and difficult, prone to adversarial confrontations, toward something more interactive that fosters collaboration and cooperation." This approach would entail revamping regulations -- surrounded by federal rulemaking guidelines and public comment periods but skirting the need for specific authorization by congress. The tool Rey has proposed is developing a new "categorical exclusion" from NEPA for fuel reduction projects, justifiable on the basis of the Forest Service's having a credible record to refer to in designing projects, based on past experience. For projects requiring a more extensive review, Rey proposes to devise an "environmental assessment" template, more easily applicable locally. He expects to unveil a detailed proposal during October. A September 12 statement by Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth puts the case as well as it's likely to be put: "There is a lot of fear that this is about logging and about taking big trees. If we can get the focus on what we leave on the land, leaving the biggest, healthiest trees, getting conditions on the land where fire can play its natural role, there is common ground." Return to Public Policy Archive Forest Resources Association
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