Bush Pushes ‘Healthy Forests’ Plan

President Bush visited a fire-ravaged Arizona community Monday as he urged Congress to enact his controversial “healthy forests” initiative, which he said would protect homes from wildfires by thinning dense undergrowth and brush but critics said would make it easier for the logging industry to cut down trees.

And mindful that his stewardship of the economy will be judged by voters next year, Bush added that a more vigorous program to thin “millions” of acres of forests would create many jobs and stimulate the economy throughout the western United States.

The issue “is not a political issue,” Bush said. It’s not a partisan issue. It’s an American issue that requires a consensus to do what is smart and right.”

But environmental groups and some Democrats vehemently disagreed with Bush’s description of his initiative as “good, sound policy” that is “urgently needed.” They said Bush was doing the bidding of the logging industry -- a contention that a senior administration official strongly rejected.

In his remarks, Bush cast the debate primarily as a matter of public safety and the preservation of a natural resource.

“Our forests are treasures that must be preserved for future generations,” he said, adding that only by expediting the process of thinning forests can they be saved. “We want the process to work quickly so we can get on about the business of saving our forests ... but we want to expedite the process to avoid the legal wrangling and the delays that take place in our courts.”

He said his forest initiative would create jobs because much of the work would be done by local contractors, who in turn could sell the wood as kindling.

Currently, however, “laws on books make it very difficult for us to set priorities,” Bush said. All too often, he added, litigation needlessly delays forest projects.

“For the sake of our forests, the Congress must act,” the president said.

Bush’s comments came as he visited the site of the 84,750-acre Aspen Fire, named after the trail near where it was first spotted. The blaze, which began June 17 and took about a month to control, destroyed 333 structures, primarily in the resort of Summerhaven.

He proposed his initiative last August during an Oregon visit to another fire-ravaged forest. Last year, according to the White House, wildfires consumed about 7 million acres and destroyed 842 homes.

The House has passed its version of forest legislation, and the Senate is scheduled to take it up in the fall. The measure would more than triple federal funding for thinning -- from $117 million in 2000 to $417 million in Bush’s fiscal year 2004 budget request, the White House said.

The debate over how to thin the forest and prevent wildfires has spawned angry debate throughout the West, with environmental groups claiming that Bush’s plan would allow timber companies not only to remove kindling but also to cut down healthy older trees -- and avoid lengthy delays posed by current logging requirements.

Traveling with the president aboard Air Force One as he flew from Waco, Texas, to Arizona, a senior administration official rejected the description of Bush’s plan as a boon to the logging industry.

“By definition, the vast majority of these projects are not profitable. It’s the taxpayer who pays for the work that’s done. And those taxpayer dollars are basically paying for timber contractors -- to take the smaller-density trees out of these forests, which currently have limited-to-no-commercial value,” the official said.

“So when you ask about environmental groups claiming that this is about logging, they’re just dead wrong,” added the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

In the face of opposition from environmental groups and their congressional allies, Bush has implemented portions of his initiative through executive action -- meaning that no congressional action was required.

In addition, environmental studies are no longer needed before trees are logged or burned to prevent forest fires. The rules also limit appeals of such projects. The previous rules required environmental studies for nearly every logging project.

Now, logging projects affecting 1,000 acres or less will not need such studies if the land is deemed at risk for fire. Controlled burns, where fire is used to burn excess trees under certain circumstances, could be done without environmental studies for projects of up to 4,500 acres.

Critics of the president’s plan reiterated their opposition on Monday.

The Wilderness Society said Bush’s initiative “falls far short” of his stated goal of protecting communities from wildfires -- in part by focusing solely on federal lands. Studies show that 85% of the land surrounding communities most at risk from wildfire is private, state, or tribal, the society contends.

Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, also joined the attack Monday.

“Unlike our first president, George Bush just can’t come clean about his plan to cut down trees. He’s using the real need to clear brush and small trees from our forests as an excuse for a timber industry giveaway,” he said, adding: “Arizonans should make no mistake: This is logging industry greed masquerading as environmental need.”

Bush ended the day in Denver, where he attended a campaign fund-raiser that was expected to raise $1 million.