U.S. Senator Ken Salazar

Member: Agriculture, Energy, Veterans' Affairs, Ethics and Aging Committees

 

2300 15th Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO 80202 | 702 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510

 

 

For Immediate Release

April 6, 2006

CONTACT:    Cody Wertz – Comm. Director

                        303-455-7600

Andrew Nannis  – Press Secretary

                        202-224-5852


 Sen. Salazar Introduces ‘Rocky Mountain FIRES Act’
Threatened Communities Near Bark Beetle Infested Forests are Focus of Salazar’s Legislation

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As Colorado moves into Spring, years of erratic snow pack levels and protracted drought are taking their toll and Colorado’s communities and forests now face severe danger during this year’s wildfire season. Local communities are concerned about the bark beetle killed stands of trees that border their communities in the wildland/urban interface (WUI) as well as in their watersheds. Senator Salazar is sponsoring legislation to provide protection to the communities that lie in the path of this probable fire danger.

“We could be facing the perfect storm of conditions for devastating fires this summer in Colorado,” said Senator Salazar. “We need to immediately pass this legislation to provide our threatened communities the ‘firepower’ they need to mitigate the fire danger around them. If we allocate the proper funds and resources now, we will be able to save priceless amounts of personal and public infrastructure as well as currently healthy stands of forest.”

Senator Salazar’s bill, the “Rocky Mountain Forest Insects Response Enhancement and Support (or Rocky Mountain FIRES) Act,” is the companion bill to the Udall/Salazar bill in the House (H.R. 4875). The bill would require that in the Rocky Mountain region, including Colorado and several other western states, at least 70 percent (or approximately $20 million) of the funds allocated for hazardous fuel reduction projects be used for projects in the wildland-urban interface. The bill also authorizes the USFS to designate insect-emergency areas and relocate personnel to respond to an insect emergency.

In addition, Senator Salazar wrote a letter this week to USDA Secretary Johanns urging him to provide additional funding to the USFS hazardous fuels and forest health projects in the State of Colorado. The Administration has significantly reduced its FY06 and 07 budget requests for fire prevention and mitigation accounts. And, the President’s FY06 supplemental request did not seek additional funding for this priority.

A summary of Senator Salazar’s Rocky Mountain FIRES Act is included below:

Section One - The short title is "Rocky Mountain Forest Insects Response Enhancement and Support (or Rocky Mountain FIRES) Act."

Section Two - sets forth finding regarding the need for the legislation, and states the bill's purpose, which is to facilitate a swifter response by the Forest Service and Interior Department to reduce the increased risk of severe wildfires to communities in the Rocky Mountain regions caused by the effects of widespread infestations of bark beetles and other insects.

Section Three - amends the Healthy Forests Restoration Act to:

  • Add definitions of terms;
  • Require that in the Rocky Mountain region at least 70% of the funds allocated for hazardous fuel reduction projects be used for projects in the wildland-urban interface and lands near municipal water supplies or their tributaries that have been identified for treatment in a community wildfire protection plan;
  • Provide for designation of insect-emergency areas by the Forest Service;
  • Specify the effect of designation of insect-emergency areas;
  • Specifically authorize the Forest Service to relocate or reassign personnel to respond to an insect emergency;

(The bill defines "Rocky Mountain region" as Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.)

Section Four - amends Healthy Forests Restoration Act to authorize help to communities preparing or revising wildfire protection plans, and provides for annual diversion (for five years) of $ 5 million from federal share of royalties from onshore federal oil and gas developments to fund this assistance.

Section Five - amends Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 to clarify that development of community wildfire protection plans qualifies for assistance under that Act.

Section Six - amends biomass-grant provision of Healthy Forests Restoration Act to allow grants to facilities using biomass for wood-based products or other commercial purposes (in addition to uses now specified in the Act); to require that priority go to grants to people using biomass removed from insect-emergency areas; to increase authorization to $10 million annually through 2010 (instead of $5 million annually through 2008); and to provide for establishment of central collection points for material removed from forest lands as part of hazardous-fuel reduction projects.

Section Seven - amends the Healthy Forests Restoration Act to specifically authorize Forest Service and Interior Department to award stewardship contracts to owners of lands contiguous to Federal lands so the landowners can do fuel-reduction work on the Federal lands.

In addition, in his meeting with the nominee for Secretary of the Interior, Gov. Dirk Kempthorne (R-ID), Senator Salazar discussed the subject of bark beetles and the Department of the Interior’s funding levels. Senator Salazar’s discussion points regarding the imminent fire danger and growing bark beetle infestations are available here.

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