Wildfires Spark Political Firestorm

by Cat Lazaroff

A backburn set to prevent the further spread of a wildfire in Idaho (PHOTO: U.S. Forest Service)

There are currently 82 fires burning in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. The fires have claimed at least two lives, both firefighters killed when their helicopters crashed.

The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise says there have already been more than 66,000 wildfires this year, burning more than 4,800,000 acres -- with at least two months of high fire danger yet to come. By comparison, over the past 10 years there have been an average of 56,242 a year, burning just 2,415,704 acres.

More than 500 Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders and Mexicans have been called in to support U.S. federal and local firefighters in several western states to suppress fires. Federal officials at the NIFC requested foreign assistance in the form of firefighting crews, incident management teams, equipment, aircraft and supplies to help contain and control wildfires throughout the west.

"NIFC has longstanding agreements with foreign countries," said Tom Frey, international program coordinator for NIFC. "Agreements with these governments have been in place so we can access support at times like these."

"These are mutually beneficial agreements," said Frey. "Just last year, the U.S. assisted Canada with more than 800 wildland firefighters. We also provided technical assistance, supplies and equipment in 1998 to help Mexico with fires related to the El Nino drought."

Wildland managers from Australia and New Zealand arrived in Boise on Friday, where they will be trained in the use of fire shelters and assigned personal protective equipment. These managers were slated to begin filling strike team leader and supervisory positions throughout the Northern Rockies area this week.

Prominent Republicans have been quick to blame the policies of the current administration for the record fire season. MontanaÕs Governor Mark Racicot and Congressman Rick Hill are calling for a moratorium on plans by President Bill Clinton and the U.S. Forest Service to ban roadbuilding in more than 40 million acres of currently roadless wilderness areas in national forests.

"WeÕve heard from ecologists that implementing these misguided regulatory plans before having a comprehensive approach to forest health would only make things worse in terms of our ability to prevent and suppress forest fires," Hill said. "I want to explore a legislative way to assess the impacts of these proposals prior to their being put into effect."

Hill also called on the White House to "put forth new measures for the emergency recovery of vulnerable and affected timber to help prevent further devastation."

In an interview with the Seattle Times, Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush said he does not blame President Clinton for the fires "because the fires start for natural reasons." However, he warned that Clinton administration policies restricting logging and the thinning of underbrush "made the forests much more dangerous to fire."

Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney of Georgia disagrees. McKinney is cosponsor of the National Forest Protection and Restoration Act (HR 1396) which would end federal logging subsidies and redirect funds into restoration and fire risk reduction programs, including clearing of brush and thickets, closing unnecessary roads, controlling human access, replanting native vegetation, and prescribed burns.

"Logging has greatly increased fire risk on our National Forests," said McKinney. "Logging causes adverse changes in forest composition. Logging operations leave behind debris that becomes tinder dry in open clearcuts. Chainsaws and other logging equipment throw sparks and start fires. The Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project Report, issued in 1996 by the federal government, found that "timber harvest, through its effects on forest structure, local microclimate and fuel accumulation, has increased fire severity more than any other recent human activity."

Politically controversial former Forest Service Chief Jack Ward Thomas, in testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on Agricultural Research, Conservation, Forestry and General Legislation on August 29, 1994 acknowledged that the Forest Service fights forest fires to maintain high timber commodity value of stands, not to protect forest ecosystems.

Koehler maintains that because the Forest Service's budget is directly tied to cutting down of the National Forests, "the Forest Service has a long history of doing what is best for their bottom line, and not what is best for our National Forests, clean air, clean water, and wildlife habitat. If we ever hope to have our National Forests managed in a responsible way, we need to end the commercial timber sales program."

Politics aside, some scientists question whether wildfires should be considered "disasters" at all. George Wuerthner, an ecologist and author of 24 books on environmental and conservation subjects, notes that fires often have a very positive effect on ecosystems.

"Over and over again the media portrays fires as some kind of catastrophic disaster," said Wuerthner. "Yet wildfires are to western ecosystems what rain is to a tropical rainforest. They are necessary for the continued health and existence of these ecosystem."

"Wildfires cleanse the forest of disease and insects," he continued. "They thin forest stands. They recycle nutrients. They create snags that are homes for thousands of species. When such snags fall into streams, they provide bank stability and fish habitat. We couldn't pay enough or hire enough people to all these positive things in our forests that fires are doing for free."

Wuerthner argues that fire suppression efforts should only be undertaken to protect communities and lives -- not to protect commercially valuable stands of timber.

"Rather than characterize this summer as the 'worst' fire season in recent history, a more enlightened and informed perspective would call it the best fire season in a long time," he concluded.