During this working vacation, President Bush is travelling the West addressing environmental issues, including a push for his "Healthy Forests Initiative." He lambastes the ills of wildfire and, with lofty rhetoric and a wooded backdrop, calls for more logging in our National Forests.

Wildfire is a natural, inevitable part of healthy forest ecosystems. However, as increasing numbers of people settle in or near forested land, the danger that it poses to communities has increased. So how do we manage wildfire so that people and communities are safe? Science tells us that it is by focusing on the areas directly around communities at risk-this community protection zone must be treated to reduce hazardous fuels through strategic thinning, brush removal, and prescribed burning.

Experts of all pedigree agree that a locally focused approach is common sense and fiscally prudent. Sadly and despite this accord, the President's policy fails to make community protection a top priority.

Government Agrees

US Forest Service Science Agrees
According to a report by US Forest Service research scientist Jack Cohen, "My research results indicate that the big flames of high intensity wildland fires do not directly ignite homes at separation distances beyond 100 feet."
Source: Thoughts on the Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Problem, Jack Cohen, June 2003

Western Governors Agree
Last year, The Wilderness Society participated in the Western Governors' 10-year Comprehensive Wildfire Strategy. This landmark plan, which garnered endorsements from conservationists, firefighters, loggers, public officials, and forest managers, is based on the fundamental principle that resources for wildfire prevention should be prioritized first on where it makes the most difference-in the Community Protection Zone.

Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth Agrees
Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth testified before Congress last year that the most effective means of reducing the risk of fires to western communities is through careful thinning of small diameter trees near homes and towns.
Source: Testimony before House Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health, June 2002.

FEMA Agrees
"During the 1993 raging Malibu fires, a number of homes were saved as a result of the owners' careful pruning and landscaping techniques that protected their homes. In a fire situation, the dead trees and shrubs surrounding your home act as fuel for fire. Removing flammable vegetation reduces the threat of fire." Source: FEMA

Media across the Nation Agree

Boise Idaho Statesman, August 11, 2003
"Fighting fires in the West is a dangerous, costly war. The deaths on the ridge line at the Cramer Fire underscore that harsh reality. They also underscore the need to choose our battles carefully, and protect communities before fire breaks out."

Arizona Daily Star, August 11, 2003
"Bush could take a dramatic step toward protecting the more than 100 Arizona forest communities that are at high fire risk if he would seek more money for thinning forests around what experts are calling the wildland-urban interface. However, there's not much profit for logging companies in the smaller-diameter trees around communities such as Summerhaven, so that thinning hasn't been a Bush priority - and isn't likely to be. That's unfortunate, for promoting such thinning is how Bush could best help ensure there will be no more devastated Summerhavens."

New York Times, August 12, 2003
"The problem with the plan is that it is hopelessly, perhaps deliberately, vague. It does not specifically require that the money be spent where it would obviously do the most good, at the urbanized edges of the forests, where homeowners and their property are most at risk."

Time, August 11, 2003
"No one questions the value of thinning for fire control around houses and other structures."

The New Mexican, August 12, 2003
"Congress should apply a preventative version of federal emergency-management laws: Work with state and local leaders on strategic fuel-reduction projects. What our senators and representatives shouldn't do is open vast new logging projects under the fuel-reduction guise."

Great Falls Tribune, August 12, 2003
"...firefighting priority and most of the expense goes to fighting blazes in the vicinity of homes and businesses that have been allowed in the forests, but the bill would do little to direct resources to those areas. If the full Senate passes the bill as passed by the House, fires such as those burning and threatening homes and businesses today will still threaten homes and businesses in the future.
In forests, as in dentistry, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Since any more it seems government has only an ounce of money, we should be putting it where it would do the most good."

Missoulian, July 31, 2003
More than just theory, creating a defensible space is good practice. Ask Jon Cole who spent five days working long hours to clear a defensible space around his five-acre home, in preparation for a wildfire just west. "He hauled brush, moved wood, cut tree limbs; made sure the vents were closed, the chimneys were capped, and the foundation sealed." Upon returning to his home, post-evacuation, his home stood untouched by the flames amidst the charred remains of nearby homes. "It sits within an island of green, surrounded by an ocean of black, the flowers still blooming colorfully in his gardens. The plastic draped over his greenhouse isn't even melted, and crops just coming on still peek out from the hothouse."

Citizens Agree

Dear Abby
The wife of a fireman recently wrote into Dear Abby to share her personal connection to fire safety during this fire season. "Twenty-three firefighters lost their lives in wildland fires last year, and more than 6 million acres were reduced to ashes. This year promises to be even more costly."

She urged Americans to get Firewise in hopes that homeowners and communities, working with the Forest Service, Red Cross and National Fire Protection Association, would take precautions to "...save another firefighter's family unending grief."

Abby hoped readers would heed her suggestion saying, "This nation has opened its heart to firefighters and their families, especially during the last two years. The selfless courage of those dedicated men and women who put their safety on the line as they move into burning buildings or burning wildlands is an inspiration. We owe them, among other considerations, a visit to Firewise.org, which puts preventive measures literally at our fingertips."
Source: Washington Post, July 29, 2003

Roslyn, Washington - Doing it Together
The town of Roslyn, Washington (often known as the location of the TV show "Northern Exposure") is a prime example of how the Forest Service can work with state agencies and local fire departments to reduce fire risks. Surrounded by the Wenatchee National Forest, Roslyn used a Forest Service grant to create "defensible space" around homes, at an average cost of just $239 per residence.

Ground zero in the fight against wildfires
"The Willie fire of 2000 made believers out of 400 Ranch neighbors south of Red Lodge. They saw that wildfire scorch land near a couple of their cabins. Neighbors were already doing some cleaning on their property, but the Willie fire sparked 'vigor' in their efforts, according to Barbara Ostrum, secretary-treasurer of the landowners' association. The 74 cabin owners applied for a federal grant to reduce fire risk on their land, which is surrounded by the Custer National Forest. The grant is a 50-50 deal. The landowners' contribution of $24,000 in cash and elbow grease is to be matched with $24,000 allocated by the state of Montana."

"Ground zero in the fight against wildfires is this rural-urban interface - places like the 400 Ranch where housing and commerce meet forest and prairie." Source: Billings Gazette August 3, 2003

Summary
These stories provide tangible proof that homes and communities often can be spared from wildfire when efforts are taken to put people first. Protecting homes and keeping people safe must be the first priority for any wildfire policy. Universal agreement already exists on this among everyone, it seems, except the timber industry and the Administration.

With several "wildfire" bills awaiting Congress' attention, it is imperative that any legislation passed places a critical emphasis on protecting homes using this approach and similar ones that focus on communities. Unfortunately, many of the bills being debated do not adequately consider Cohen's science and instead allocate funds to logging projects in the backcountry, miles away from homes.