Free Republic

A friend of mine from Montana said to me recently, "the State's on fire again", referring to the catastrophic loss of vast areas of its forests this year. The same can be said of New Mexico, Colorado, and other States for whom these forest fires have become an annual event. Everyone knows that our national parks and forests are not being managed correctly. Because of "environmental" policies and restrictions, they are tinderboxes waiting to explode from a lightning strike or a careless camper. Why then do we give a tax exemption to one of the most active pressure groups opposing...

VICTORIA (CP) - Residents of a Kelowna, B.C., neighbourhood whose homes were levelled by a raging forest fire may try to take the B.C. government to court, a lawyer said Wednesday. Denis Berntsen, a lawyer in the Vancouver Island community of Sidney, said he has been approached by one family and talked to several others. There could be grounds for a class-action lawsuit against the government, he said. "The allegation is that the fire could have been prevented or at least the severity of it could have been prevented had the government followed the expert reports it had available to...

<p>Our nation faces a severe forest health crisis. Whether it is raging fires, ravaging insects, or mysterious, disease-carrying agents that threaten to wipe out entire species, not a single region of the country is being spared the devastating economic and environmental consequences of this monumental crisis.</p>

SALEM, Ore. (AP) - As they fought a raging wildfire last year in southern Oregon, a fire crew got word that the blaze was approaching rapidly and all workers needed to evacuate. They yelled the directions to a Hispanic crew digging a fire line, but none of them understood English. They stood, confused. Members of the English-speaking crew ran toward the workers, waving their arms in an attempt to communicate. Eventually, someone who could translate was found and no one was hurt. "That's a dangerous situation," said Ed Daniels, training manager for the Oregon Department of Forestry, who investigated...

CAMP SHERMAN -- The trees with the blue ribbons will be cut. Everything decked in pink stays. Of the 50 or so ponderosa pines in a quarter-acre patch of the Deschutes National Forest, as few as 13 could be spared the chain saw. "There's going to be a huge difference. And I'm going to get hammered by some people," says Tim Lillebo, Eastern Oregon field representative for the Portland-based Oregon Natural Resources Council. When President Bush travels to Oregon this week, he is expected to call national attention to this sort of effort to thin the overgrown forests of the...

Fire Map (most are in our area of Idaho) http://firemapper.sc.egov.usda.gov/modisrr/lg_fire2.php

<p>His face has been splashed on the covers of Time and Newsweek this month.</p> <p>And his cyberstumping - the use of the Internet to raise big bucks and organize supporters - has turned Howard Dean into a political phenomenon. The former Vermont governor whose iconoclastic ways remind some of Arizona Sen. John McCain stops by Tucson on Monday.</p>

SEELEY LAKE, Montana — When members of the Western Governors Association and federal officials toured a series of federal forest projects near this western Montana community in mid-June, they said they found ample justification to accelerate forest thinning to prevent wildfires. (Related story: Milder fire season may still turn hot) ... But if the governors had gone instead to the scene of Colorado's worst wildfire, the Hayman fire of 2002, they might have had a bit more skepticism about the beneficial effects of forest thinning. "Thinning," concludes Greg Aplet, a forest ecologist with The Wilderness Society, "can change fire behavior...

<p>SUMMERHAVEN, Ariz. (AP) &#8212; During a visit to a charred mountain-resort community yesterday, President Bush called on Congress to pass legislation to allow for prompt thinning of overgrown forests.</p> <p>"Forest-thinning projects make a significant difference about whether or not wildfires will destroy a lot of property," Mr. Bush said after touring charred areas of the Santa Catalina Mountains in southeastern Arizona. "We need to thin our forests in America."</p>

<p>He's come to the wrong place with the wrong plan.</p> <p>"We're all scratching our heads over why the president would attempt to use the 'Aspen' fire as a political stage for his Healthy Forests Initiative," said Brian Segee of the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity.</p>

The Color of Money "Green" It is appalling that we face yet another year of substantial fire destruction of critical habitat for endangered species and the destruction of natural resources on public lands solely because so called “environmental groups” still have a financial incentive to litigate against beneficial public forest restoration projects. Under the Federal Equal Access to Justice Act, if an “environmental attorney” files suit and is successful in simply delaying a forest restoration project, we the taxpayers are required to send them a check for their excessive legal fees and “expenses.” This is an unintentional flaw in the...

Lightning created by the smoke from one Washington state wilderness blaze sparked a small fire that burned near the Canadian border Thursday. The spot fire near Bald Mountain in the Pasayten Wilderness was burning about three miles south of the border, and about two miles north of the main Farewell Creek fire, spokeswoman Christy Covington said Thursday. It was believed to be only about an acre, but fire officials were monitoring it as well as two similar spot fires south of the main blaze. Meanwhile, the Farewell Creek fire, which had blackened 73,640 acres since lightning started it June 29,...

How a forest stopped a fire in its tracks The New York Times SUSANVILLE, Calif. -- Where the fire came through Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest last September, the ground is ash and the trees are charcoal. Black and gray are the colors, lightened only by small mounds of red dust at the base of some of the charred trunks -- the leavings of bark beetles -- and flecks of green where new growth pokes above the ash. Through the tall, ravaged columns, however, a living pine forest is visible. And as visitors inspecting the fire damage walk toward the living...

Western National Forests Could Be Targets For Terrorism By Starlyn Klein BOISE - The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise is on alert after threats from Al-Qaida that western national forests could be targets for terrorism. A senior Al-Qaida detainee told federal investigators he had developed a plan to set midsummer forest fires in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Utah. Although Idaho is not included officials at NIFC are taking the threat seriously. "We at NIFC when we understand there are some threats they can be from anywhere and anybody," said NIFC Spokesperson Rose Davis. Just recently they learned that...

I have not heard this, but my mom said she heard that this was something on the news. I did a search here but did not find anything. Can someone kindly point me to a thread or article? Thanks, LL

<p>National forests in the West were considered targets for al-Qaida attacks, according to an FBI memo to law enforcement agencies dated June 25.</p> <p>A senior al-Qaida detainee told federal investigators he had developed a plan to set midsummer forest fires in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming, according to the document, obtained by The Arizona Republic.</p>

Wildfire Burning Near Taos Pueblo 700 Acres Scorched POSTED: 8:58 a.m. MDT July 5, 2003 UPDATED: 10:32 a.m. MDT July 5, 2003 Taos, N.M. -- A mountain wildfire, generating "flame waves" up to 100 feet long burned at least 700 acres near Taos Pueblo as campers fled and fire engines moved in to protect Pueblo homes. The Encibado Fire -- east of Taos and southeast of Wheeler Peak -- burned to within a half-mile of the Indian village north of the resort town of Taos. Lightning was suspected of igniting the fire at 4:12 p.m. Friday. Campers were evacuated from...

<p>As many feared would happen, the fire season has started, and the Senate is still fiddling with the president's Healthy Forests Initiative. While the House passed the bill (HR 1904) over a month ago, the Senate Agriculture Committee is only holding a full hearing on it today.</p>

Daschle introduces 'Forest Health Act' BY DONNA SMITH, Black Hills Pioneer June 24, 2003 SPEARFISH -- On Monday afternoon, Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., introduced in the Senate the "Collaborative Forest Health Act" which he co-authored with Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. Daschle describes the bill as comprehensive national forest legislation, but said it is not meant to replace the need for locally negotiated agreements like the Black Hills Fire Prevention Agreement. The legislation, if passed, would provide $100 million annually in grants to reduce wildfire risk and restore burned areas on state, tribal, and private lands. It also excludes hazardous fuel...

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Western U.S. states, which had below-average rainfall last winter and are currently experiencing unusually dry weather, face a high risk of forest fires this summer, a local fire and land agency said on Monday. Paul Werth, a weather expert at the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center, said that a report due to be presented to state governors on Tuesday will warn of the increased risk of major wildfires breaking out over the coming months in a region of the United States that is especially prone to raging summer blazes. "The biggest reason in combination is the dry weather...