August 02, 2002
Friday - 12:45 am

Washington - A bipartisan group of Senators including Senators Murkowski and Stevens announced on Thursday their intention to pursue legislation in September to address the ongoing plight of federal forests.

"Our nation has more than 28 million acres of high danger fuel loads in our forests, including over 4 million acres of spruce bark beetle kill forests in Alaska - the largest kill by

".....With over half of our State's population surrounded by beetle kill forests, it is critical that we find a way to reduce the fuel loads." Senator Ted Stevens

insects of any forest in North America - including more than 600,000 acres of federal forest land on the Kenai Peninsula," said Stevens." The amount of beetle kill forests in Alaska equals a 2.33 mile wide strip from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles. With over half of our State's population surrounded by beetle kill forests, it is critical that we find a way to reduce the fuel loads."

"In Alaska the spruce bark beetle by itself has devastated our forests. Since 1989 they have consumed an area larger than the entire State of Connecticut, leaving 30 billion board feet of rooting wood just waiting for a match to ignite a giant wildfire. That's enough wood to build 2 million new homes," said Senator Murkowski. "Not only the health and safety of everyone who lives in the forest and all the visitors to our national forest, but the health of every deer, bear and eagle depends on us stopping these wildfires before they start."

"While more than 1 million ares have already burned this year in Alaska out of the more than 4 million acres of fires nationwide, we've been fortunate that most of the fires have not been in heavily populated areas. Our luck can't hold forever. We must take steps now to promote forest health before it is too late," Murkowski said.

According to the news release, the Forest Service has spent more than $700 million fighting these fires and will spend hundreds of millions more in fire rehabilitation costs. This will be the second time in three years in which the American taxpayer will be expected to pay more than a billion dollars fighting fires, with little or no progress made on dealing with the underlying problem.

The extent of the fires and recent forest health legislation passed in the FY02 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill is a compelling reason for us to face up to this problem. The administrative process can no longer allow forest health management to come to a halt; the problem must be addressed now, Murkowski said.

It is the intention of Senators Murkowski and Stevens to work with their coalition members to address this issue and to propose legislation to allow management in the most critical areas. The coalition intends for their legislation to protect the wildland-urban interface and municipal watersheds to the maximum extent possible, and to reduce fuels in high risk areas.

Source of News Release:

Office of Senator Frank Murkowski
Web Site

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