Wales Tourism and Visit Planning

Holiday In Wales The Bush administration gave federal land managers their formal marching orders Wednesday to speed up forest-thinning projects this year on 3.7 million fire-prone acres across the country.

Those talks, brokered by Ms. Norton and Ann M. Veneman, the agriculture secretary, year plan for the thinning of forest lands considered a particularly high fire risk, priority projects.

Holiday Wales Two-thirds of the money will be focused on logging and prescribed burning near at-risk communities in and around national forests and public rangelands, U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management officials said at a wildfire conference.

The project calls for 12, 000 acres of federal forest in Colorado to be thinned this year, according to the U.S. Forest Service. At least two burns were scheduled for today, one about eight miles southwest of Boulder and another about 36 miles northwest of Fort Collins. Although forest thinning is being pushed by the Bush administration, local governments are seeing its value as well, say members of the Poudre Fire Authority, which serves 235 square miles in and around Fort Collins.

Cottage Holiday In Wales The 56 pages of guidelines issued Wednesday explain how local agency field managers should proceed to quickly carry out the Healthy Forests Restoration Act that President Bush signed into law late last year over the objections of environmentalists.

Logging alone won't solve the devastating fire problem in the western forests ["Thin Forests to Prevent Fire, Bush Says, " news story, Aug. 23]. Between 1980 and 1990 the Forest Service harvested more board feet of timber than in the previous 20 years combined, yet the forests burned hotter and more extensively than in living memory.

Caravan Holiday In Wales The legislation speeds fuels-reduction projects, reduces some requirements for environmental reviews and instructs judges to consider the threat of catastrophic fire when hearing environmentalists appeals aimed at blocking projects.

"Our job is to do everything we can to prevent forest fires from happening in the first place, " Mr. Bush said to applause. ed page of USA Today, Ms. Norton said, "With dense forests and severe drought, much of the West is a tinderbox waiting for a spark." That article offered a preview of the Bush plan, as did an article on Wednesday in The Los Angeles Times.

Camping Holiday Wales Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who oversees the Forest Service, cited forecasts calling for above-normal fire danger across much of the West again this season. Nearly 4 million acres burned nationally last year and 7 million acres were charred in 2002.

The timber industry has recommended something far reaching, extending deep into wildlands and including large trees as well as small ones, to make the operations more commercially viable. In describing Mr. Bush's plan, administration officials used language that most reflected the industry view, effectiveness, to managing forest ecosystems and to the importance, as Ms. Norton put it, of " thinning projects."

Accommodation Holiday Wales This underscores the need to get the work done now and not in three years, Rey said. The sense of urgency is not going to go away.

Holiday Last Minute Wales The 3.7 million acres scheduled for thinning an area larger than twice the size of the state of Delaware is up from 2.7 million acres in 2003.

Catering Holiday Self Wales The Bush administration is asking Congress for $760 million to treat an additional 4 million acres in 2005, an $80 million increase over this year.

Holiday Wales Walking In all, administration officials identified 190 million acres of federal land at risk of fire.

Family Holiday Wales Assistant Interior Secretary Rebecca Watson said communities surrounded by wildlands will be given top priority.

Holiday Riding Wales Our critics say were reducing public participation and not addressing high-priority areas. Thats not true, Watson said. Our commitment is to focus on the health of the land.

Adventure Holiday Wales Rey insisted that the vast majority of trees to be removed in overgrown woodlands and insect-infected forests would have little commercial value.

Holiday Park South Wales I dont think they (environmentalists) will find examples of increased logging in another three and a half years, Rey said. It all boils down to a matter of public trust.

Cottage Holiday Wales Jay Watson, wildland fire program director for The Wilderness Society based in San Francisco, questioned whether companies will be allowed to cut large, old-growth trees in the name of fire prevention.

Holiday In Wales His group supports reducing fuels around communities but advocates controlled burns in the backcountry if the goal is forest restoration, not more timber for loggers.

Holiday Wales I think the very reputation of the (federal agencies) is on the line here, Watson said. The proof will be in how the agencies behave. Its one thing to talk the talk and theyd be advised to walk the walk.

Cottage Holiday In Wales Chief Ernest Mitchell, president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, said his group supports efforts to reduce fire danger.

Caravan Holiday In Wales Weve seen clear indications of the disastrous effects of wildland fires, Mitchell said. We need to get the ball rolling.

Camping Holiday Wales His group is co-sponsoring the National Fire Plan Conference through Friday. Billed as the largest wildland fire conference ever, it has attracted about 800 local, state and federal fire officials from across the country.

Accommodation Holiday Wales U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Reno, a loud critic of past logging practices under the Clinton administration, said he will sponsor a congressional hearing at nearby Lake Tahoe, which faces one of the highest fire threats in the nation because of overgrown forests.

Holiday Last Minute Wales It takes action to prevent a forest fire. And now, thanks to the Healthy Forests Initiative, we will have the tools and ability to protect our precious forests and wildlands from devastating fire, Gibbons said.

Catering Holiday Self Wales By Martin Griffith
Associated Press - 3/4/2004

Topic: Fire

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