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JULY 29, 2012 |
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Forest Service
Revitalization |
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www.StopWildfire.org |
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Today's guest:
Bruce Courtright |
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Bruce
Courtright |
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Board
Chair |
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The National Institute
for the Elimination of Catastrophic Wildfire |
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America’s 193 million-acre National Forest System is in serious
decline. The United States Forest Service (USFS) was created to be
the congressional designated manager of the forests and to be the
leader of professional forestry in the United States. As much
through designed neglect as benign neglect, the national forests are
being allowed to change from productive forests to fire-prone,
insect-infested, and disease-wracked lands of declining value to the
public, and the USFS that manages them for their citizen-owners is
declining in its ability to carry out its mission of “caring for the
land and serving people.” Congress must act immediately to save the
National Forest System and its invaluable commodity and amenity
resources, and to restore and revitalize the beleaguered USFS
charged with their management. |
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During the past decade, the natural resources on over 12 million
acres (an area larger than the State of Maryland) of National Forest
System lands have been damaged or destroyed by catastrophic
wildfires, insects, and disease. This devastation is a consequence
primarily of improper and inadequate management in a time of rapidly
changing environmental conditions caused by climate change.
Science-based resource management by Forest Service professionals
has been preempted by those with ideological agendas and the
political power to impose them. Congress’s statutory direction for
management of the national forests on a sustained yield-multiple use
basis has been subverted by special interest groups. This situation
will only get worse without immediate congressional intervention. |
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Congress must act now to charter a comprehensive review of the
legislated mission and physical status of the forests and their
resources, and then reverse and remedy the situations in those
forests and their administration that threaten the nation’s
economical and ecological well-being. If it does not, and current
trends continues, the nation’s needs for vital economic goods and
ecosystem services provided by the National Forest System will not
be met (such as water), and Forest Service capabilities to manage
the national forests will decline with the decline of its corps of
professional resource managers and other specialists. |
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We believe the necessary review would best be led by a new public
land law review commission, or Congress’s investigative arm, the
Government Accountability Office (GAO), with input by members of the
Forest Service along with representatives of state and local
governments directly concerned with national forest issues, citizen
dependent on the forests, resource management experts, and user
group members. This review should focus on: (1) the biological and
physical condition of the National Forest System; (2) the management
needs and challenges which must be met to restore those lands and
resources through active management, as well as restore public
confidence in the process; and (3) The indicators of needed service
and products being delivered to American citizens. As a result of
this review, Congress should: (1) revise the often-conflicting
statutes governing National Forest System management and
stewardship; and (2) revise, restore and reaffirm the mission of the
Forest Service to manage those lands to produce “the greatest good
for the greatest number in the long run” that was its original
charge, as well as provide for accomplishment of that mission. |
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Steps toward these ends are listed in the white paper. |
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Bruce Courtright:
www.StopWildfire.org
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Websites and
material mentioned on
today's program: |
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www.StopWildfire.org |
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Exec_Summary_Final_20120312.pdf |
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Position_Paper_Final_20120312.pdf |
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Cover_Letter_Final_20110312b.pdf |
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www.stopwildfire.org/#!relevent-news |
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An Invitation.pdf |
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