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 ForestNorth America’s Forests: Page 15 The future of forests in the United States is at a dramatic turning point. During the summer of 2000, devastating wildfires broke out in the Western United States, primarily in national forests. More than 6.7 million acres burned, along with hundreds of private homes (Janofsky 2000). Within months, the Clinton Administration proposed a major new approach to the national forests, dictating extensive thinning of millions of trees and the removal of brush to prevent future wildfires (Jehl 2000). This plan was based on the theory that the fires were caused by too little logging, resulting in dense forests with underbrush that caught fire and spread uncontrollably. Pro-logging Members of Congress, western Governors and logging companies immediately endorsed the plan (Janofsky 2000, Jehl 2000). Some Governors wanted even more money for the program (Janofsky 2000). The proposed thinning would cost taxpayers $12 billion over 15 years (Jehl 2000). This was challenged by a report issued by the Congressional Research Service soon after the fires were extinguished, which concluded that there was no connection between the level of logging and wildfires (Egan 2000). Other critics included the Forest Guardians of New Mexico, who contended that the fires were the result of decades of industrial logging in which the largest trees were taken; it suggested that instead of thinning, logging subsidies be directed at badly needed projects to control soil erosion, protect water quality and enhance wildlife habitat (Hitt 2000). Environmental groups opposed the logging portion of the proposal as a tool for fire prevention (Janofsky 2000).
As the ideal example of how national forests should be managed, the Clinton Administration proposal pointed to an Arizona Ponderosa forest that had been thinned and did not burn. Ponderosa forests are not typical, however, of all forests, tending to be open with little understory. Other types of forests, such as old-growth temperate rainforests, are not open, and drastic thinning of their undergrowth would result in more, not fewer fires. Moreover, nutrients would be lost, erosion encouraged and wildlife habitat destroyed by such thinning. Dr. Paul R. Epstein (2000), a scientist with Harvard's Medical School Center for Health and Global Environment, concluded that the wildfires were precipitated by global warming, which caused the drought that dried out these forests, making them vulnerable to wildfires. Epstein proposed that the most important reaction to these fires would be to control global warming and restabilize the climate system.
An extremely important policy statement was made by Forest Service chief Mike Dombeck in January 2001, when he ordered the protection of the largest and oldest trees on Forest Service land (Jehl 2001a). In explaining his decision, Dombeck said, "In the future, we will celebrate the fact that national forests serve as a reservoir for our last remaining old-growth forests and their associated ecological and social values" (Jehl 2001a). Only about 3 percent of national forests is old-growth forest, yet these forests are among the most important refuges for rare and endangered species. Dombeck's statement and the philosophy behind it are reminiscent of John Muir or Henry David Thoreau, an extraordinary reversal from the utilitarian view of forests as tree farms that has held sway since the beginning of the Forest Service. In fact, it had been Forest Service policy that the oldest and biggest trees be cut first (Jehl 2001b). The new Republican Administration and the Senate panel overseeing the Forest Service announced that hearings would be held on the new policy, which runs counter to the one backed by President George W. Bush (Jehl 2001b). Dombeck was asked to leave his job soon after President Bush took office. Logging in national forests has declined from 1989, when 12 billion board feet were cut, to about 3 billion board feet in 2000 (Jehl 2001b). Loggers are expected to lobby hard to cut these last old-growth trees because of the huge amount of dense wood they contain.
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