Washington,
Dec 3, 2003 -
U.S. Congressman John Shadegg (R-AZ) today congratulated President Bush for signing legislation that protects the future health of Arizona’s forests. The Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 passed the House and Senate with bi-partisan support, and is supported by a coalition of organizations with expertise in forest health. “The Healthy Forests Restoration Act is a balanced and comprehensive measure to reduce the threat of wildfire and other threats to our forests,” Shadegg said. “Given the devastating effects of the wildfires that have ravaged Arizona in the last two years, it would be irresponsible to leave outdated regulations in place and have unneeded legal challenges to blame for the loss of another million acres, another home, or another human life.” This year saw the destruction of over 85,000 acres and more than 300 homes by wildfires in Arizona. While severe, this year's record pales in comparison to the devastation that our state suffered last year in the Rodeo-Chediski and Indian fires, which destroyed over 500 homes and consumed 468,000 acres of forested lands. Shadegg, who last year was part of a six-member working group that drafted much of the language in the bill that the president signed today, was pleased that it contains many of his key provisions including: - Allow hazardous fuels reduction projects in order to protect endangered species and their habitat only when catastrophic wild fires are identified as a threat under the species recovery plan. This is critical to endangered wildlife in Arizona. Legal challenges which delayed a tree thinning project to reduce fire danger in the critical habitat areas of eleven Mexican Spotted Owls ended in disaster, as the Rodeo-Chediski fire burned through this habitat and completely destroyed six owl habitat areas. - Allow hazardous fuels reduction projects that will protect the water quality of municipal water supplies. Shadegg concluded: "The passage of the Healthy Forests Act by a wide margin in both the House and Senate shows that this common-sense approach to scientifically-based forest management has broad support. I hope that this consensus will allow us to take action to save our forests from destruction by wildfire, and I call on groups and individuals that have used litigation to delay these projects to respect the democratic process and allow them to proceed."
