Release No. 0504.02

USDA Press Office (202) 720-4623
DOI Press Office (202) 208-6416
CEQ Press Office (202) 456-6224

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11, 2002---Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton, Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman, and Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Chairman James L. Connaughton today met with President Bush to discuss their efforts to restore forest and rangeland health and reduce the risks of catastrophic wildfires to communities and the environment as called for by the President’s Healthy Forests Initiative. Following the meeting, they announced several common-sense proposed administrative actions to expedite badly needed forest and rangeland restoration activities that will reduce the risks that catastrophic wildfires pose to communities and the environment.

“We have reached an unprecedented level of agreement among federal, state and community leaders on how best to protect communities and the environment from devastating wildfires,” said Agriculture Secretary Veneman. “The actions we are taking today will continue to build upon the President’s Healthy Forests Initiative and strengthen our management tools and firefighting capabilities to improve forest health.”

Wildfires burned over 7.1 million acres of public and private lands last summer, an area larger than the states of Maryland and Rhode Island combined, causing tremendous social, environmental and economic damage. Twenty-one firefighters were killed battling these fires. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes, thousands of structures were destroyed and hundreds of millions of trees were destroyed.

“This summer’s fire season was a wake-up call to everyone who loves our public lands and wants to protect communities at risk: We face a crisis of forest and rangeland health of unprecedented proportions, where millions of acres of land desperately need more effective management to promote ecosystem restoration,” said CEQ Chairman James L. Connaughton. “These common-sense steps will allow federal agencies to spend millions of dollars a year on environmental restoration and conservation rather than needless paperwork. The result will be safer communities, safer firefighters and healthier forest ecosystems.”

These unnaturally extreme fires are just one consequence of deteriorating forest and rangeland health that now affects more than 190 million acres of public land, an area twice the size of California. An unprecedented epidemic of insects and forest disease is also ravaging many forests, including southeastern forests such as the Oconee National Forest in Georgia and the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee. Some of the worst pine beetle epidemics on record are killing tens of thousands of acres of trees in southern and western forests.

“We are trying to expedite our processes in order to prevent catastrophic damage to our forests and rangelands by returning these lands to good health, which will protect lives, property and homes,” said Interior Secretary Gale Norton. “Needless delay closes the narrow window of opportunity we have to do essential fuels treatment work between fire seasons. Forest ecologists and the land managers know the truth: We cannot afford to wait any longer. If we fail to act, we will continue to see millions of acres of forests go up in smoke every year.”

Under the Healthy Forests Initiative, the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior and the Council on Environmental Quality are proposing several sensible steps to improve the regulatory processes guiding forest health activities and ensure more timely decisions. They include:

1. More Fuels Treatment and Restoration Projects to Improve Forest Health

The Departments of Agriculture and the Interior are proposing new procedures that will enable priority fuels treatment (thinning) and forest restoration (reseeding and planting) projects to proceed quickly. Fuels treatment projects under this procedure must be identified by federal agencies working in collaboration with state, local and tribal governments and interested persons. Based on the agencies’ experience with hundreds of these projects where environmental analysis showed no significant environmental impact, the proposed procedures will determine that similar new projects do not result in significant impacts – eliminating the need for individual analyses and lengthier documentation. During the prior Administration, the Fish and Wildlife Service established a similar procedure for fuels treatment projects in wildlife refuges, which has worked effectively to promote ecosystem health. These hazardous fuels reduction and ecosystem rehabilitation projects will help restore forest and rangeland ecosystems, benefiting many species and their habitat. These procedures will be published in the Federal Register for public notice and comment.

2. Amend Rules for Project Appeals to Hasten Process

Agriculture and Interior will propose to amend their administrative appeal rules to 1) expedite appeals of forest health projects and 2) encourage early and more meaningful public participation. The Interior proposal would allow forest health projects to move ahead without an administrative stay and require fuels treatment appeals to be heard by the Office of Hearings and Appeals as quickly as possible and decided within 60 days. These improvements will reduce complex procedures, provide more timely decisions and provide greater flexibility in emergency situations.

3. Improve Endangered Species Act Process to Expedite Decisions

The Departments of Interior and Commerce are jointly releasing two guidance documents to their staff that will improve the process for reviewing fuels treatment projects under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The first document encourages the use of several streamlining techniques to expedite the consultation process, such as carrying out integrated regional planning for fuels treatment projects. The second document clarifies that ESA evaluations should consider the long-term environmental benefits of fuels treatment projects, as well as the potential for adverse effects, and that projects with net benefits should be expedited. Both documents will facilitate the timely completion of fuels treatment projects, while providing protection for wildlife and restoring habitat.

CEQ will issue guidance to Interior and Agriculture establishing an improved and focused process for conducting environmental assessments under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for healthy forest projects. Agriculture and Interior will send senior advisors to work with the field offices to immediately implement the new process. The two agencies will undertake at least 10 pilot projects to establish the effectiveness of these expedited procedures.

Under NEPA, CEQ regulations provide for concise environmental assessments of potentially significant effects of federal projects, which can be better focused to exclude unnecessary documentation.

These proposals will help land managers work more effectively with the public and improve their ability to protect communities and the environment from devastating wildfires.

President Bush announced the Healthy Forests Initiative in August, directing the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior and the Council on Environmental Quality to develop administrative and legislative measures that will help reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfire to America’s forests and rangelands. The initiative builds on a historic ten-year plan for reducing wildfire risks adopted last spring by federal agencies in cooperation with western and southern governors, county commissioners, state foresters and tribal officials.

Fact Sheet

Reducing the Threat of Catastrophic Wildfires and Improving Forest Health

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