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Western senators float restoration bill to combat wildfires, invasives

A bipartisan group of Western senators introduced legislation earlier this week that aims to limit the threats of wildfires and destructive insect infestations by focusing restoration efforts where they would do the most good.

The Forest Landscape Restoration Act would establish a collaborative and science-based forest landscape restoration program that would prioritize and fund ecological restoration treatments for forest landscapes.

Claiming that over-aggressive fire suppression and development have impaired forest landscapes across the country, sponsors said the bill would lead to an overall reduction of wildfire management costs by focusing funding on collaborative, sustainable projects that would offer the greatest protections against devastating wildfires.

"We're now spending billions of dollars a year trying to suppress wildland fires, and this bill will help us get a better handle on controlling those costs," said Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) in a statement.

Federal land managers would work with state and local authorities to identify parcels of at least 50,000 acres comprised mostly of National forest System lands that need active ecosystem restoration. The projects must include several stakeholders representing multiple interests.

The bill would also require that the projects be in proximity to current or future wood-processing facilities that would be able to use the collected biomass. Those forest restoration byproducts would be put to offset the treatment costs.

"The idea behind this legislation is landscapes and people who live and work there have an opportunity to demonstrate to the regional forester that they meet all the criteria and have the support to receive the extra funding and achieve some outstanding results," said Laura McCarthy, Western U.S. Forests and Fire Restoration Program director for the Nature Conservancy.

Bingaman said he hopes to hold a hearing on the bill later this spring.

Senators question fire funding in budget proposal

The senators' bill came a day after the Bush administration released its fiscal 2009 spending proposal, in which wildfire-related spending accounts for 48 percent of the Forest Service's budget (see related story).

Several key senators called the budget proposal short-sighted and inadequate, claiming that it overemphasizes firefighting while failing to adequately fund efforts to prevent the fires in the first place.

"There is no question -- because of the fact that fires are happening more often and becoming more devastating -- that we have to be able to clean out dead, dying and downed trees," Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) told reporters Tuesday. "The most fundamental responsibility that we have is to protect the safety of our people, and these big catastrophic fires are a major threat to the security of our people."

Fire suppression would see a $148 million increase to just under $1 billion -- a figure based on the 10-year average of fire suppression costs -- but the budget would cut other fire-related activities.

The budget would provide $297 million for hazardous fuels reduction projects, down from $310 million in fiscal 2008, while fire preparedness would fall to $588 million from $666 million.

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) said Congress would probably have to authorize emergency funding like it did last year to fund wildfire efforts, calling the current funding regime "totally inadequate."

"In my frustration I just started adding lump sums of money ... and I'll do the same thing again this year if need be," Craig said.

Feinstein and Craig are cosponsors of the forest restoration bill, along with Sens. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho).