Wildfire
Group Sets Model For New Law
By
BILL KACZOR
The Associated Press
Published:
Dec 5, 2003
PENSACOLA
BEACH - Participants
in a public-private program that fights fire with fire said Thursday
their approach is setting an example for what can be accomplished
under the new Healthy Forests Restoration Act.
The
Fire Learning Network concludes a four-day workshop today focusing
on how to prevent or limit destructive wildfires by using prescribed
burns and other methods.
Many
environmentalists fear the Healthy Forests law will give loggers
free rein in the nation's timberlands, but the network's experience
shows there's another way, said Jeff Hardesty, director of The
Nature Conservancy's Global Fire Initiative.
``It
provides us with hope that communities will be able to work together
with federal agencies in ways that protect those communities and
restore ecosystems,'' he said.
His
organization, a key nongovernmental player in the Fire Learning
Network, has taken a neutral stance on the Healthy Forests
legislation that President Bush signed into law Wednesday.
James
Furman, wildland fire program manager at nearby Eglin Air Force
Base, which covers 724 square miles of mostly wooded land, and Jim
Van Winkle, project coordinator for the Sandhills Task Force in
Wood
Lake
,
Neb.
,
are among those who agree with Hardesty.
``There
are a lot of things that are being showcased through the Fire
Learning Network that would be applicable helping implement parts of
the Healthy Forests initiative, especially with regard to
collaboration between partners from different agencies and
organizations,'' Furman said.
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