| Hull backs forest thinning,
opposes logging
(Note: This is no less than the Governor of Arizona saying that she OPPOSES SALVAGE LOGGING of the forests that likely wouldn't have been incinerated if responsible logging had not been removed from the NON-management federal equation. This is an elected official, to those who are registered Arizona voters. Do you want more of the same?) July 2002 By Tom Jackson King, Managing Editor tjking@eacourier.com Copyright 2002 Eastern Arizona Courier The Eastern Arizona Courier P.O. Box N 301 East Highway 70 Safford, Arizona 85548 928-428-2560 Fax: 928-428-4901 http://www.eacourier.com/ Gov. Jane Dee Hull met Thursday with top federal and state officials to discuss forest priorities and ways to avoid a future forest wildfire disaster like the Rodeo-Chediski Fire, which destroyed 426 homes and burned 468,000 acres of prime ponderosa timber. "Now is the time to put debates aside and focus on our areas of agreement," Hull said. "For the sake of our forests, it is time to collaborate in managing forests effectively. We need practical, workable solutions on thinning our forests and protecting our rural communities," she said. U.S. Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) also announced the U.S. Department of Labor would allocate more than $2.2 million in emergency grant money to employ about 125 workers in the devastated areas of Navajo and Apache counties to aid in recovery and cleanup efforts. "This is welcome news for communities that have been devastated by the Rodeo fire," Kyl said. The Labor funds will hire workers who will provide food, clothing, shelter and other humanitarian aid to residents of Navajo and Apache counties who were harmed by the Rodeo-Chediski Fire. Other jobs include renovation and reconstruction of facilities and buildings destroyed by the fire. First priority for the jobs will go to those dislocated by the disaster, long-term unemployed and dislocated workers, the Department of Labor said. Hull's call for a cooperative effort to manage Arizona's forests was presented to a joint meeting of her Southwest Strategy Executive Committee, which includes federal officials from BLM, NPS, Forest Service and BIA, and the Governor's Forest Health and Fire Plan Advisory Committee, which includes state officials from agencies such as ADEM and the Department of Economic Security (DES). Francie Noyes, spokesperson for Gov. Hull, told the Eastern Arizona Courier that "the governor does believe in general you ought to thin forests to avoid these kinds of fires. Yes, you need to clean up and you need to thin." District 5 Rep. Jake Flake (R-Snowflake), who is Speaker Pro Tem of the Arizona House of Representatives, has issued a call for doing more than thinning. He has called upon managers of the forests to allow logging of badly burned timber. "We must first make plans to salvage millions of board feet of timber. Many of the burnt trees are dead, but can still be salvaged. This effort alone will stimulate the economy of the distressed areas and give much-needed jobs to displaced people," Flake said July 16. "We are still in grave danger and must clean out the forests or this catastrophe will happen again and again. We have not yet even got into the lightening season where little fires will start popping up all over. We have to protect our homes and our way of life by properly managing forests," he said. Noyes said Hull opposes logging of timber burnt and killed by the Rodeo-Chediski Fire. "No one is recommending logging. They are only talking about thinning. We're not talking about logging," Noyes said. Other state politicians have proposed a two-year moratorium on lawsuits filed by environmental groups against the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management. The rationale for the moratorium call is based on the assumption that a flood of lawsuits filed by environmentalists against planned tree logging in the White Mountains left the ponderosa forest overgrown with small diameter trees, choked with brush and a prime candidate for a fast-moving crown fire, which can throw embers up to five miles away from a fire line. Noyes was asked if Hull favors such a halt on lawsuits. "No," she said. "According to U.S. Forest Service research, what has actually held up these events (logging) is appeals within the administrative process. The governor does not support a lawsuit moratorium." However, when Gov. Hull visited Show Low on Sunday afternoon, June 23, at the height of the threat to Show Low, she spoke somberly of the danger posed to Arizona's forests and laid some of the blame on environmentalists for the severity of the Rodeo-Chediski Fire. "The words do not get back to the environmentalists and the courts, who keep us from cleaning up these forests. It's time the environmentalists understand they don't get 100 percent. The Sierra Club and people who sue the Forest Service, they share in the blame for this," Hull said in a statement broadcast Sunday afternoon by CNN. Days later Sandy Bahr, spokesperson for the Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club, criticized Hull's naming of the Sierra Club and environmentalists. She said the governor was "misinformed" on the facts underlying the White Mountains fire. Noyes, when asked why the governor didn't support logging of dead burned timber, as is often done in other forests after a severe fire, said, "At this point we simply need to work together now that everyone agrees we need to manage the forests better. It is not time for casting blame." Besides the Department of Labor grant, Noyes said Arizona is helping the affected communities in their recovery efforts. She said the state Department of Commerce is offering $1.1 million in workforce development funds for people who lost their jobs due to the fire, while DES has already written checks for food and housing aid to those who lost homes. The Arizona Division of Emergency Managing was "the central agency in getting assistance up there," Noyes said. |