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It's Official: Bush Administration Puts Communities at Risk From Wildfires Statement of Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director President Bush signs into law today logging legislation that fails to adequately fund community wildfire protection measures, but will certainly succeed in propping up the timber industry. Communities at risk from wildfires have been asking for help for years, and they will have to continue those requests this spring and for fire seasons to come. Answering their pleas with timber sales miles away will not help protect homes and lives. There is a better way, but it requires putting the safety of communities ahead of the interests of timber corporations. The common sense solution is to prioritize funds to thin brush and small trees around homes and communities. We need a plan that addresses problems faced in places like Summerhaven, Arizona, Southern California and other communities that have experienced great losses in recent fire seasons. Instead, the Bush Administration exploited the public's justified fear of fires to pass a bill that effectively removes citizen participation, interferes with the judicial system, increases commercial logging, leaves old-growth and roadless forests vulnerable, all while leaving communities at risk. Communities across the West are not getting the help they desperately need. It's not too late to fix this problem. If the Bush administration and Congress are serious about protecting homes and lives, they should appropriate sufficient funds and earmark them for work around communities. The Bush Administration's record on forest policies - from abandoning landmark wild forest protections to limiting the ways Americans can participate in protecting their National Forests - is dismal, and the "Healthy Forests Initiative" marks a low point. For more information, please visit: http://www.sierraclub.org/forests |
