Bush Unveils Forestry Policy in Oregon

President Bush challenged critics of his forest policy to stand in the middle of what had been a forest of Douglas fir and ponderosa pine--as he did Thursday--”and see firsthand the effects of bad forest policy.”

In woodsy garb of olive green and khaki, the president hiked through the remains of a section of Squires Peak Forest and then unveiled a policy intended to make it easier for loggers to remove kindling--as well as healthy, old trees--without lengthy delays posed by bureaucracy and courts.

“Had we properly managed our forests,” he said, “the devastation caused would not have been nearly as severe as it has been. It’s a crying shame.”

Bush spoke as he toured the burned-out woods near the town of Ruch, viewing an example of conflicting forest policies: one that lets the woods grow so dense that they burn furiously out of control, and a newer approach that thins the forest sufficiently to remove kindling and saplings, which fuel catastrophic fires.

Part of the forest was charred and barren; part was seared, but not to the point of devastation.

The question of how to thin the forest has produced angry debate throughout the West. Bush’s efforts to speed loggers’ access to the woods has drawn criticism from environmental groups, which see the administration’s policy as dictated more by concerns about the interests of logging companies than about forest health.

“There’s nothing wrong with people being able to earn a living off of effective forest management,” the president said. “There are a lot of people in this part of the state that can’t find work because we don’t properly manage our forests.”

His tour took him on a dirt and gravel road to an elevation of 3,200 feet on Squires Peak. Along the way, his motorcade passed a clutch of protesters, one holding a sign reading “More Forest, Less Bush.”

He strolled the remains of the forest. The woods were silent, save for the sound of his boots on the burned soil.

Here in Central Point, the air was acrid with the smoke of three fires, including one known as the Biscuit fire, the largest in the state’s history. The fires are burning in southwestern Oregon, within 50 miles of the town.

Under the president’s plan, the government would streamline procedures giving loggers permission to work the forests. This would lessen the opportunities for opponents to try to block the activities intended to remove not just the most volatile fuels--underbrush, deadwood and thin trees--but also some commercially valuable old pines and firs.

It would remove what the administration called “needless administrative obstacles.” With congressional approval, it would also remove a legislative provision that officials said “imposed extraordinary procedural requirements on [U.S.] Forest Service appeals” of decisions blocking logging plans.

“The procedure requirements of our environmental laws are not supposed to wreak environmental havoc, and that’s what some of them are doing,” said James L. Connaughton, chairman of the president’s Council on Environmental Quality.

Throughout much of the West, forests have grown extremely dense as a result of reduced logging and policies that for decades demanded the extinction as quickly as possible of all fires. That approach allowed a massive buildup on the forest floor of brush and other fuels.

Some forests are said by administration officials to be 15 times more dense than they were a century ago. Forests that 100 years ago could be traversed on foot are now too densely packed to cross, Connaughton said.

The result has been more fires, burning at such high temperatures that they sterilize the forest floor, preventing growth for years rather than allowing the regeneration that would follow more conventional fires.

In the current fire season, more than 6 million acres have burned, Connaughton said. He said 281 fires began burning Wednesday, including five of more than 100 acres.

As Bush arrived in Oregon from his home near Crawford, Texas, Air Force One flew low over burning forest, banking to provide a better view. At some points, the smoke obscured the forests. At others, patches of burned woods, green trees and smoldering fire could be seen, and a firefighting airplane flew below the president’s craft.

Environmentalists critical of the Bush policy have focused as much on the changes in forest management processes as on the decisions to give loggers greater access to the forests.

Their concern is that limits on the extent to which they could appeal Forest Service decisions would have a far-reaching impact on a tool they have used to delay for years activities they fear will damage ecosystems. Their efforts are built on the legal and administrative procedures established in the National Environmental Protection Act.

“The question is whether they are using fire as a means to go at” the National Environmental Protection Act, said Jennifer Coates, a spokeswoman in Washington for the Heritage Forests Campaign.

Politically, the issue poses few difficulties for Bush. One of his stops in Oregon was a dinner that White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said was expected to raise $300,000 for the reelection campaign of Sen. Gordon Smith and $600,000 for the state Republican Party.

Bush is flying to California today to begin a two-day visit to the state built around fund-raising appearances for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon Jr.