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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2002

Phil Cochran: "Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton claims that the "Healthy Forests Initiative" would focus on thinning trees that were too small for lumber. Yet funding for the initiative would come from cutting down large, commercially desirable (old-growth) trees, the same ones that survive smaller fires to reseed the forest. That adds up to a lot of big trees, because brush-clearing and selective logging of skinny trees are expensive tasks that don't generate much income."

Steve Holmer: "Gale Norton greatly exaggerated the effects of forest fires on wildlife. As The Post reported on Sept. 16, most areas that were burned in Montana's fires have rebounded and are sprouting new trees amid rare wildflowers seen only in the aftermath of fires."

Get the Story:
Letters: Wildfires and Healthy Forests (The Washington Post 10/1)

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

Related Stories:
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)