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While Vail Valley homes escaped last summer's vicious fire season unscathed, destruction elsewhere in the state and the American West inspired the drafting of the Healthy Forest Restoration Act by a pair of Republican Congressmen: Rep. Scott McInnis, who represented Eagle County until districts were redrawn last year; and Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon.
""We have professionals here who go out and know what needs to be done in the forest. We employ them to do that," Walden says. "Now we should change the bureaucracy and the rules and laws so they can do the jobs they were trained to do.''
The Healthy Forest Act would ostensibly allow the 1,000-acre clear cuts to stop the spread of harmful insects plaguing western forests. While thinning dense forests is not disputed as an effective way to stop the spread of fires, Democrats and some Colorado environmental groups say the measure would give logging companies too much leeway and doesn't adequately protect private homes or other properties.
Fire season looms
"Even as the spring rains continue, we know that fire is not far behind," says Jeff Berman, director of Colorado Wild!, an environmental group active in the valley. "Locally, we know what the problems and solutions are. We're just waiting for Washington to catch up."
While residents can clear a perimeter around their homes of flammable trees and brush and take other small precautions against wildfires, Democrats and environmentalists, like Berman, say federal legislation should send limited firefighting funds to the most threatened towns and communities, rather than to remote forests.
Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and Rep. George Miller, D-Calif, are pushing a bill that would concentrate forest thinning around rural communities while not taking away citizens' power to appeal logging permits, the sponsors say.
"Discretionary thousand-acre clearcuts don't pass the laugh test,'' DeFazio said. ""I've got to assume that either this gets removed from the bill or this is just another attempt to produce something that might excite some constituency but will be doomed to the congressional wastebasket.''
Still smarting
Approximately 80,000 residents were evacuated from their homes last year when 4,600 fires, some fueled by intense drought, gobbled up 619,029 acres of land across Colorado. More than a million Colorado residents live in the woodsy foothills of the Front Range, the Western Slope and Central Mountains.
National and local budget cutbacks are also causing concern. Some fear spending cuts will take away money needed to protect rural towns and communities from wildfires.
Sandy Shea, public lands director for High Country Citizens Alliance, says limited manpower and money should be spent in communities at the private and state level rather than on "logging projects in the backcountry."
"With state and federal budgets tight, every dollar counts," Shea says. "Investing money and resources where they are needed most and where they will be the most effective - around homes and communities - will provide the best returns."
Congress is expected to begin debating various pieces of wildfire legislation today.
Room to compromise
Walden, meanwhile, says the Healthy Forest Act codifies a widely supported process created by the Western Governors Association to give the public a say over forest thinning projects while speeding up the work. Walden suggests there will be room to compromise on the section of his bill that would give the secretaries of Agriculture and Interior authority to approve timber harvests as large as 1,000 acres without environmental review.
The Healthy Forests Act, Walden says, holds ""great promise to help us prevent catastrophic fire, produce healthier forests, safer communities and jobs in rural areas."
But opponents remain skeptical.
"Two wildfire camps seem to have developed in Washington," Berman says. "One draws on the widespread consensus that the vast majority of lands at risk are nonfederal lands around communities, and that we should direct resources to states and communities to reduce fire risk within this zone.
"The other camp," he adds, "refuses to acknowledge these facts, intent on adopting legislation that will fail to steer funds to the areas of greatest need, but all the while promoting logging in the backcountry."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
""We have professionals here who go out and know what needs to be done in the forest. We employ them to do that," Walden says. "Now we should change the bureaucracy and the rules and laws so they can do the jobs they were trained to do.''
The Healthy Forest Act would ostensibly allow the 1,000-acre clear cuts to stop the spread of harmful insects plaguing western forests. While thinning dense forests is not disputed as an effective way to stop the spread of fires, Democrats and some Colorado environmental groups say the measure would give logging companies too much leeway and doesn't adequately protect private homes or other properties.
Fire season looms
"Even as the spring rains continue, we know that fire is not far behind," says Jeff Berman, director of Colorado Wild!, an environmental group active in the valley. "Locally, we know what the problems and solutions are. We're just waiting for Washington to catch up."
While residents can clear a perimeter around their homes of flammable trees and brush and take other small precautions against wildfires, Democrats and environmentalists, like Berman, say federal legislation should send limited firefighting funds to the most threatened towns and communities, rather than to remote forests.
Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and Rep. George Miller, D-Calif, are pushing a bill that would concentrate forest thinning around rural communities while not taking away citizens' power to appeal logging permits, the sponsors say.
"Discretionary thousand-acre clearcuts don't pass the laugh test,'' DeFazio said. ""I've got to assume that either this gets removed from the bill or this is just another attempt to produce something that might excite some constituency but will be doomed to the congressional wastebasket.''
Still smarting
Approximately 80,000 residents were evacuated from their homes last year when 4,600 fires, some fueled by intense drought, gobbled up 619,029 acres of land across Colorado. More than a million Colorado residents live in the woodsy foothills of the Front Range, the Western Slope and Central Mountains.
National and local budget cutbacks are also causing concern. Some fear spending cuts will take away money needed to protect rural towns and communities from wildfires.
Sandy Shea, public lands director for High Country Citizens Alliance, says limited manpower and money should be spent in communities at the private and state level rather than on "logging projects in the backcountry."
"With state and federal budgets tight, every dollar counts," Shea says. "Investing money and resources where they are needed most and where they will be the most effective - around homes and communities - will provide the best returns."
Congress is expected to begin debating various pieces of wildfire legislation today.
Room to compromise
Walden, meanwhile, says the Healthy Forest Act codifies a widely supported process created by the Western Governors Association to give the public a say over forest thinning projects while speeding up the work. Walden suggests there will be room to compromise on the section of his bill that would give the secretaries of Agriculture and Interior authority to approve timber harvests as large as 1,000 acres without environmental review.
The Healthy Forests Act, Walden says, holds ""great promise to help us prevent catastrophic fire, produce healthier forests, safer communities and jobs in rural areas."
But opponents remain skeptical.
"Two wildfire camps seem to have developed in Washington," Berman says. "One draws on the widespread consensus that the vast majority of lands at risk are nonfederal lands around communities, and that we should direct resources to states and communities to reduce fire risk within this zone.
"The other camp," he adds, "refuses to acknowledge these facts, intent on adopting legislation that will fail to steer funds to the areas of greatest need, but all the while promoting logging in the backcountry."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
