WASHINGTON – Two of Congress’ leading forest experts introduced new legislation today to protect western communities at risk from raging wildfires while also protecting treasured national forests from unnecessary logging.

The new bill would provide assistance to local communities to treat private lands at risk of wildfire and would also speed up the decision-making process for projects to reduce the threat of wildfire on public lands within half a mile of an at-risk community or on at-risk lands near municipal water supply systems. But the bill maintains important environmental laws and public participation and specifically rejects the idea of promoting the logging of old growth and other large trees as a way to generate funds for hazardous fuels reduction projects.

“This is an innovative bill that would help protect western communities at risk of wildfire,” said Miller, the former chairman and former senior Democrat on the House Resources Committee that has jurisdiction over this issue. “We allow for a faster approval process without weakening environmental laws and we also provide grants directly to local communities for fire treatment on private lands. Communities that take prudent steps to reduce their susceptibility to wildfire, such as by making certain changes to the constructions of homes and other buildings, would get first priority for those grants.

“The threat of wildfires is very real,” Miller said. “This issue should not be used as an excuse to cut down important parts of our national forests that are not related to that threat. Unlike the Bush Administration’s approach, our bill shows that you do not have to destroy the great forests of our nation to save them.”

DeFazio, who has served on the Resources Committee for 15 years and took a leave of absence this year to serve on the new Committee on Homeland Security, said the bill protects communities while providing strong protections for old growth forests.

“A century of Forest Service mismanagement has brought about a dangerous buildup of underbrush and small trees, providing the fuel for once-rare catastrophic wildfires that now annually threaten our communities, sensitive ecosystems and water supplies in the West,” said DeFazio. “Last year, record breaking wildfires burned more than 6.5 million acres at a cost to taxpayers of more than $1 billion.

“This bill is the first step in a long process to help return our public lands to their natural state where low-intensity fires can burn to enhance and protect the natural health of the forest, without endangering communities, delicate ecosystems or mature fire-resistant trees,” DeFazio added. “I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Resources Committee to move effective fuels reduction legislation, so we don't have to endure another wildfire season like last year's.”

A description of the bill follows.

This innovative bill provides environmentally sound, expedited procedures for the planning and implementation of hazardous fuels reduction activities for wildfire-prone National Forest System lands and lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management and provides aid to communities to treat private forested lands within their vicinity. The bill would authorize Congress to spend nearly $4 billion over five years for these efforts on public lands and would require Congress to set aside an additional $500 million over five years from the Reforestation Trust Fund to be given as grants directly to state and local communities for hazardous fuels reduction efforts.

Prioritizes Projects Near Communities