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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2002

Secretary of Interior Gale Norton said Wednesday she hoped Congress will pass legislation to implement President Bush's forest thinning initiative.

Norton blames this year's devastating fires on too many trees. The administration believes removing them will eliminate the threat.

Critics say the plan is an excuse to allow widespread logging as a favor to the industry. In an editorial published in The Billings Gazette, Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) says he supports thinning on 5 million acres of federal forest land.

A legislative proposal he supports would limit legal challenges to forest plans for one year. "[I]t is because our forests are in such bad shape that I propose limiting legal recourse where the need for thinning is most urgent," he writes.

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Ore.) chimes in with his own opinion piece and writes in support of his own proposal in the form of a rider to the Interior Appropriations bill. The amendment allows thinning on 10 million acres of forest land.

Get the Story:
White House Plans to Ease Logging Rules (AP 10/3)
Username: indianz.com, Password: indianz.com
Sen. Jeff Bingaman: et's fight fire where it counts; stop pointing fingers (The Billings Gazette 10/3)
Sen. Larry Craig: Let's cut through red tape and trees to stop fires (The Billings Gazette 10/3)
Norton urges forest thinning to limit wildfires (AP 10/2)
For Bush, dollars and cents drive land-use policies (The Christian Science Monitor 10/2)

Relevant Links:
Healthy Forest Initiative - http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/healthyforests/index.html

Related Stories:
Letters: Norton's not so healty forests (10/1)
Senate stalls on 'healthy forest' debate (9/24)
Gale Norton: The Bush forest policy (9/17)
Norton promotes forest initiative (9/5)
Norton: Cut the forests down (8/28)
Bush promotes healthy forest initiative (8/23)
Bill to speed up tribal timber sales (8/21)