Environmentalists Charge Legislation to Prevent Forest Fires is a Gift to the Logging Industry

Interview with Sean Cosgrove, of the Sierra Club, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

As wildfires raged across southern California, the U.S. Senate passed a forestry bill in late October that would relax environmental regulations and limit judicial review on tree-thinning projects on 20 million acres of federal lands. Thus far, the fires have claimed the lives of 20 people, burned more than 700,000 acres -- an area the size of Rhode Island -- and destroyed 3,500 homes.

Supporters of the bill say its provisions will both protect old growth forests and help prevent a recurrence of the devastation to people and property caused by this year's inferno. Up to half the $760 million authorized in the legislation could be spent on federal lands near communities most at risk.

Environmentalists agree on the need to thin underbrush and small trees to help prevent wildfires, but they fear the legislation amounts to a gift to the lumber industry. Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Sean Cosgrove, the Sierra Club's national forest policy specialist, about why his organization opposes forest initiatives put forward by both Congress and the Bush administration, and about alternative policies that his organization maintains would actually protect both forest communities and old growth forests.

For more information on pending forest legislation call the Sierra Club at (202) 547-1141 or visit their website at www.sierraclub.org.

Related links

*"Forest Protection & Restoration campaign," The Sierra Club, www.sierraclub.org

*"Wildfires 101: What you should know about wildfires," The Sierra Club, www.sierraclub.org

*"Debunking the "Healthy Forests Initiative," The Sierra Club, www.sierraclub.org

*"Trial By Fire" by Marc Ash, truthout.org/Perspective, Nov. 4 2003

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