Environmental Groups offer "plan" for "protecting" communities and "wildlands"

August 22, 2002 - As small communities and businesses across the U.S. and particularly in the West struggle to survive, radical environmentalists continue to come out with "ideas" to help "save the environment."  The schemes that have been promoted over the past few years have gone far to harm citizens and have done nothing to help the environment. The concept that "man" is the problem, and that humans should be relegated to a lower status than fish is ridiculous.  

The real agenda of these organizations can be seen in an excellent slide show at "The Wildlands Project: "Explaining the North American Wilderness Recovery Strategy."

Following is one more story of the radical environmentalists' ideas about how they "perceive" forests should be protected - at huge expense to people.

WWF and Coalition of Environmental Groups Offer Plan for
Protecting Communities and Wildlands from Catastrophic Fires

To: National Desk, Environment Reporter
Contact: Chris Williams, 202-778-9792 or
Dominick DellaSala, 541-482-4878,
both of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
http://www.worldwildlife.org

PORTLAND, Ore., Aug. 21 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A coalition of
environmental groups including World Wildlife Fund (WWF), The
Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, and the Oregon Natural
Resources Council today released a seven-part plan for protecting
communities and public land forests. They called on the Bush
administration and the U.S. Forest Service to make protection of
communities the agency's top fire management priority.

"It's time to put the finger-pointing to rest and find real
solutions to the threat of catastrophic fire to communities and
wildlands," said Bill Eichbaum, WWF's vice president, Endangered
Spaces.

This year alone, fires have burned across vast acres of forest
in the U.S., causing unprecedented damage to public and private
property. WWF believes that much of this damage could have been
avoided, and hopes that this new initiative will focus resources on
constructive solutions for a workable fire-management plan.

The seven-part plan calls on the administration to:

-- Do the most important work first. Reduce fuels in the
Community Protection Zone -- the first 500 meters out from
buildings. Take out flammable brush and small trees and fireproof
buildings.
-- Provide funding that makes a difference. This program should
span a minimum of five years and receive funding at $2 billion a
year to go directly to fireproofing homes and removing hazardous
fuels in the Community Protection Zones.
-- Shift U.S. Forest Service personnel skilled in preparing
brush clearing and thinning projects from backcountry, low priority
areas to Ranger Districts near the Community Protection Zones.
-- Carry out immediately the vast majority of fuel reduction
projects in Community Protection Zones that raise no significant
environmental issues. Work together with communities and
environmentalists to plan fuel reduction activities that may
involve critical wildlife habitat.
-- Restore natural fires to have natural forests. Additionally,
review and carefully monitor prescribed burn plans. Prescribed
burns can help to reduce fuel buildup and restore healthy forest
habitats. Every dollar spent on prescribed burning saves seven
dollars on fighting large fires later.
-- Protect our ancient and unroaded forests from logging and
logging roads. Numerous studies demonstrate that roadless forests
are at reduced risk of fire and sustain much less damage than
roaded and logged areas.
-- Maintain legal safeguards for the environment. Ensure full
public participation in decision-making in national forest
management decisions as the best way to deter poor logging
practices that exacerbate fire risks.

"A program of community protection and restoration of natural
fire cycles in the backcountry will safeguard peoples' homes,
preserve wildlife and forest habitat, prevent catastrophic
wildfires, and save taxpayer dollars," said WWF forest ecologist
Dominick DellaSala. "It's winners all around."

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World Wildlife Fund, known worldwide by its panda logo, leads
international efforts to protect the diversity of life on earth.
Now in its fourth decade, WWF works in more than 100 countries
around the globe.