Our Klamath Basin Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.
Our Klamath Basin
Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.
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PRESS RELEASE: Smith Introduces
Legislation to Speed Biscuit Fire Salvage and
Replanting Amendment Would End Lawsuits and Allow
Reforestation 9/13/04 Washington, DC -- Today, Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR) introduced an amendment to his National Reforestation Act (S. 2709) which would halt lawsuits and administrative appeals for the U.S. Forest Service's Biscuit Fire Recovery Project allowing the plan to move forward. The 2002 Biscuit Fire was the largest in Oregon's recorded history. After two years of study and scientific analysis, the Forest Service announced a modest plan to salvage dead wood from five percent of the burn area and to reforest a total of six percent of the burn. Specifically, the Forest Service proposed reforesting 31,000 acres, building 300 miles of fuel management zones, implementing 83,000 acres of prescribed burns, removing 370 million board feet of fire-killed wood, and considering 64,000 acres of lands adjacent to the Kalmiopsis Wilderness for wilderness designation. "Rehabilitating the Biscuit Fire is one of the most important environmental obligations we have. It offers us a clear choice between leaving millions of dead trees to rot and burn or bringing a forest back from the ashes for wildlife and the next generation of Oregonians," Smith said. "With such a small area open to salvage, this effort should not be controversial, yet lawsuits have already halted the effort. Forty percent of the value of the dead wood is already gone, and we cannot afford to delay work on the forest any more." Rotting wood and court delays have put salvage sales at risk. Without the sales, funds will not be available for restoration and replanting, increasing the likelihood that the Siskiyou National Forest will revert to brushfields and charcoal for the next hundred years. Court-ordered mediation is set to begin later this week, while the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has already enjoined a portion of the Biscuit Project. "Oregonians remember and can see from the Tillamook burns that reforestation works," Smith said. "I want to those who are trying to block the rehabilitation to know that I'm prepared to move this legislation and do whatever is necessary to start bringing our forest back to life." In July 2004, Smith introduced the National Reforestation Act (S. 2709) which would require the Forest Service (USFS) to replant heavily burned areas within five years of a forest fire. This legislation and Smith's Biscuit Amendment will be reviewed by the Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee tomorrow, September 14. Today, Senator Smith made it clear that without a swift resolution to the current lawsuits blocking salvage, he will seek to advance his amendment in the upcoming weeks. #### |
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