Western Governors' Conference

The Summerhaven Fire also formed the backdrop for the Western Governors' Association Conference, or "Forest Health Summit," held June 17-19 at Seeley Lake, Montana, drawing a broad audience of federal employees, forest resource people, community members, and greens -- some of whom, it seems, considered staging disruptive maneuvers but eventually thought better of it. The Summit consisted of three days of presentations on the Inland West's forest health crisis and a field trip highlighting on-the-ground forest health treatments. Media accounts show state governors ranging from strongly supportive of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act, as is Montana's Judy Martz, to "concerned," like Arizona's Janet Napolitano -- but all acutely aware that advocating a policy of neglect would be political -- apart from ecological -- suicide. For an excellent summary of the Summit, its political context, and the issues it considered, visit www.westgov.org.

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