Forest Thinning and Restoration

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that 83 percent of all firefighters identified "fuels reduction" (fuels being dried brush and dead trees) as the single most important factor for improving safety from wildfires. The author points out that the plan proposes the utilization of dead underbrush as a new source of energy. The paper stresses that environmentalist groups opposed to President Bush's plan are "tree-huggers" that are trying to protect the very trees they use each day for various things.

From the Paper:

"With our current drought situation, insect infestations, and disease in our forest, we have accumulated years of natural fuels that can produce environmentally destructive fires". This statement from the article "The 2003 Fire Season" is a warning that if we do not remove these dead trees and brush that the effects can be damaging in other ways. Some environmentalists suggest that the long term effects of this type of program have not been completely researched. Many of them also suggest that this program is an opportunity to allow logging companies onto federal land for the sole purpose of attaining free lumber as a byproduct of the project for profit. They have also claimed that it will not reduce the risk of fires. It is hard to rationalize that removing the very things that a fire feeds on such as, dead trees and brush, will not reduce the risk of fire."

More papers on Forest Thinning and Restoration:

• Research Paper # 112546 : "Forest Health and Restoration"
• Essay # 87281 : "Forest Fires and Weather"
• Essay # 8764 : "Forest Management and Timber Supply"

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