Junk Science: Forest Fire Roots

Junk Science: Forest Fire Roots

FOXNews.com - Views - Junk Science - California Fires Reignite Forest Thinning Debate

A bill currently under consideration in Congress calls for aggressive thinning on up to 20 million acres of federal land at high risk of fire. The bill would reduce bureaucratic reviews and limit appeals -- the tools environmentalists use to block rational forest management -- so that some thinning efforts could be completed within months.

President Bush urged the Senate to pass the legislation -- last May. “For too many years, bureaucratic tangles and bad forest policy have prevented foresters from keeping our woodlands healthy and safe,' said the president.

'This year's fire outlook seems less severe, and that's good news,' the president added. 'Yet the danger persists, and many of our forests are facing a higher-than-normal risk of costly and catastrophic fires.'
California is apparently one of the areas of elevated risk referred to by the president.

Putting aside the environmentalists’ general anti-industry -- especially anti-logging -- political agenda and accepting for argument’s sake their alleged concerns about the need to preserve “old growth forests” for “future generations,” the bill before Congress does not permit unrestricted clear-cutting of old growth forests.