Washington, D.C. – Wildlife is losing habitat. Entire towns have been evacuated. People are losing homes and in some cases their lives. The forest is burning.

U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., introduced a bill today that is designed to prevent more of these catastrophes from happening.

"This is a very dangerous time in the West. Prolonged drought, diseased trees and other factors have turned our forests into tinder boxes and many have ignited. My legislation would allow managers to take emergency action to prevent the areas in danger of fire from blazing out of control, destroying property, habitat and lives," said Enzi.

The Emergency Forest Rescue Act of 2002 would allow forest managers in the Department of Interior and Agriculture to designate federal forest land as emergency mitigation areas. These areas would include forests suffering from drought, timber blowdowns, past wildfires, invasive plant species disease and/or insect infestation. In these mitigation areas the chief of the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management director or the director of the Fish and Wildlife Service would apply to the Council on Environmental Quality for a National Environmental Policy Act waiver to allow alternative management practices such as harvesting dead or diseased timber.

Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., inserted similar legislation in an emergency supplemental appropriations bill recently, but that legislation was specific only to his own state. Enzi's bill would allow forest managers to use the emergency procedure in Wyoming or any other state where the forest is in severe danger of wildfire.

Enzi is particularly concerned about areas near Cody.

"So far we've been lucky that some of our most dangerous areas have not caught fire. One area I am particularly concerned about is just east of Cody on Wyoming's Shoshone National Forest, which lies next to Yellowstone National Park," said Enzi.

"This area is considered critical habitat for wolves, grizzlies, whooping cranes, elk, bison, mule deer and other animals that spend part of their time living in Yellowstone National Park. But this part of the forest is also home to a very severe pine beetle infestation that threatens to ignite and cause extreme damage to the Park, the forest and surrounding communities."

Enzi said the management practices of the last few years have allowed fuel for wildfires to build up in the forests. The danger is intensified by years of drought.

"This bill is a mechanism that will allow foresters to avoid some of the legal wrangling that has had them in a choke hold. But I emphasize this bill is very limited in scope. Lawsuits, unfortunately, will still be king in the day-to-day management practices of our forests, but when people's homes and entire communities are in danger of bursting into flames our public land managers must be allowed to take quick action to stop the destruction. That's why we need this bill," said Enzi.

The bill's text follows:
Enzi forest bill


SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emergency Forest Rescue Act of 2002''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds that—

(1) fire and land management policies have contributed to the increasing severity and intensity of wildfires over the past few decades;

(2) a large proportion of Federal forest land is in a condition of serious degradation because of trees that are—

(A) diseased; or

(B) dying because of—

(i) insect infestation;

(ii) invasive plant species; or

(iii) other natural disasters (including blowdowns and wildfires);

(3) the drought conditions of 2002 are exacerbating the conditions on Federal forest land, making the Federal forest land particularly susceptible to an increased threat of wildfires;

(4) in addition to threatening Federal forest land, wildfires threaten thousands of communities that are located on the border or within the boundaries of the Federal forest land;

(5) the 2000 and 2002 fire seasons demonstrate the devastation that is possible if emergency action is not taken to reduce the increased threat of wildfire from diseased and dying trees;

(6) the combination of drought and diseased and dying trees creates even more dangerous conditions under which—

(A) the severity of wildfires increases; and

(B) wildfires pose a greater threat to public health and safety; and

(7) it is critically important that the heads of Federal agencies responsible for managing Federal forest land have the authority to declare as emergency mitigation areas any Federal forest land that has a dangerous buildup of dead or dying trees because of disease, insect infestation, invasive plant species, or other natural disasters, for the purposes of –

(A) reducing the threat of wildfires; and

(B) protecting Federal forest land and the communities located near or adjacent to the Federal forest land.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:

(1) DESIGNEE.—The term ‘‘designee'' means—

(A) the Chief of the Forest Service;

(B) the Director of the Bureau of Land Management; or

(C) the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

(2) EMERGENCY MITIGATION AREA.—The term ‘‘emergency mitigation area'' means an area designated by the Secretary under section 4(a).

(3) FEDERAL FOREST LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal forest land'' means any forest land under the jurisdiction of the Secretary.

(4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary'' means—

(A) in the case of Federal forest land under the jurisdiction of the Forest Service, the Secretary of Agriculture; or

(B) in the case of Federal forest land under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management or the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Secretary of the Interior.

SEC. 4. EMERGENCY MITIGATION AREAS.

(a) DESIGNATION.—The Secretary or a designee shall designate as an emergency mitigation area any Federal forest land that—

(1) is experiencing a severe drought; and

(2) has a large quantity of trees that are dead or dying because of disease, insect infestation, an invasive plant species, or other natural disaster.

(b) EMERGENCY CIRCUMSTANCE.—Designation of an emergency mitigation area under subsection (a) is an emergency circumstance within the meaning of part 1506.11 of title 40, Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation).

(c) ALTERNATIVE ARRANGEMENTS.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—On designation of an emergency mitigation area under subsection (a), the Secretary or a designee shall request from the Council on Environmental Quality authority to use any alternative arrangement (including timber harvesting) in the emergency mitigation area that is necessary to protect trees in the emergency mitigation area from disease, insect infestation, an invasive plant species, or other natural disaster.

(2) EXEMPTION FROM APPLICABLE LAW.—In carrying out an alternative arrangement approved by the Council on Environmental Quality under paragraph (1), the Secretary of Agriculture or a designee shall be exempt from the requirements of section 322 of the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1993 (16 U.S.C. 1612 22 note).