Clinton to Ask for More Money to Fight, Prevent Fires

As wildfires ravage Western forests, the Clinton administration is preparing to ask Congress for $1.2 billion to repair the damage and take steps to prevent future blazes.

The request by the Interior and Agriculture departments, contained in a draft report obtained by the Associated Press, will probably prompt a battle between pro-environment groups and logging interests over how to spend money on preventive measures.

Some environmentalists are wary of a section of the plan that calls for spending $117 million next year as part of a five-year effort to remove trees and brush from 16 million acres of U.S. Forest Service land.

“We certainly don’t favor a massive thinning program,” said Mike Bader of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies in Missoula, Mont.

Some environmentalists fear a repeat of 1995, when, after a bad year for wildfires, Congress passed legislation allowing loggers to temporarily waive environmental laws to harvest timber.

The measure was signed by President Clinton--a move some environmentalists view as the president’s worst conservation decision.

Ken Rait, conservation director of the Oregon Natural Resources Council, said the Forest Service has a reputation in local offices for promoting thinning over other fire prevention efforts because it brings in money from logging companies.

“There’s a trust issue there,” he said. “Every [thinning] project is going to have to be looked at basically through a magnifying glass.”

The report says thinning and prescribed burns will be limited mostly to smaller trees on public lands near fast-growing communities in states such as Montana, Colorado and New Mexico.

No environmental laws will be skirted to carry out the effort, the report said, though the final determination will be made by Congress.

The situation presents a challenge for Vice President Al Gore, who wants to show compassion toward fire victims but needs the support of environmentalists in the key Western states of California, Washington and Oregon.

“It’s going to be a political tap dance, there’s no question about it,” Bader said.

The funding request comes as the federal government has tallied at least $626 million in costs to battle scores of fires from Montana to New Mexico, spending as much as $18 million a day.

Fires have charred 6.3 million acres in the West during what is termed the worst fire season in 50 years.

New Request Would Double the Original

The draft plan calls for $342 million for training, equipment and supplies; $300 million for fighting fires; and would place $200 million in a fund for firefighting emergencies.

It also would set aside $115 million for clearing debris, stabilizing soils and cleaning up watersheds that have been hit by fires. The cleanup effort could create as many as 20,000 jobs in rural communities, the report said, though many would be temporary.

Presently, some fires cannot be staffed due to a shortage of firefighters and equipment, the report noted.

Agency officials cautioned that the report could change before a final version is produced next week.

“We’ve been through many drafts already and we expect to have many more before we submit the report to the president,” said Susan McAvoy, an Agriculture Department spokeswoman.

The Senate appropriations bill for the Interior Department already has passed and includes $1.4 billion for fire prevention. The House-approved version contains $1 billion. Both measures are in a conference committee.

If the new request is approved, which lawmakers are eager to try to do with election day looming, it would double what Clinton originally proposed.

Marty Hayden, legislative director of Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, said that while he is somewhat concerned about the size of the administration’s plan for thinning, he is more worried that Republicans will seek to expand it to boost commercial logging of national forests.

“What the administration sends up is one thing, but what Congress gives back is something else,” he said.

Doug Crandall, chief of staff for the Republican-controlled House Forests and Forest Health Subcommittee, said the plan can’t be carried out without the help of commercial loggers.

“It’s going to take outside help to treat that many acres,” he said.