Forest
continued from page 1
were affected, 21 firefighters were
killed and tens of thousands of fami
lies were evacuated from their
homes, according to a United States
Department of Agriculture fact
sheet. It was the worst fire season in
recent history.
In response to the devastation left
behind by the fires, and the desire
to avoid a similar situation in the fu
ture, President George W. Bush in
troduced the Healthy Forest Initia
tive to Congress in August. The plan
is a four-part process that the Bush
administration calls “common
sense” and “sensible.”
According to Bush administration
officials, successful implementation
of the plan would change how
forests and rangelands are managed
in regard to fuel treatment.
The plan would quickly open doors
for agencies to enter into areas and
perform logging exercises in the name
of fire fuel reduction. It would remove
many of the overlapping environmen
tal laws and guidelines that mandate
review of the impact of logging. In
stead, it would develop an accelerated
system for weighing the short-term
risks and the long-term benefits of log
ging an area in the name of fuel reduc
tion. HFI would also remove the exist
ing appeals process, which currently
allows citizens and the administration
to place hold orders on questionable
timber sales.
“We are trying to expedite our
processes in order to prevent cata
strophic damage to our forests and
rangelands by returning these lands
to good health, which will protect
lives, property and home,” Interior
Secretary Gale Norton said in a state
ment. “Needless delay closes the nar
row window of opportunity we have
to do essential fuel treatment work
between fire seasons. Forest ecolo
gists and the land managers know the
truth: We cannot afford to wait any
longer. If we fail to act, we will contin
ue to see millions of acres of forests go
up in smoke every year.”
HFI would affect federal forested
areas, wilderness and rangelands
bordering communities and high
risk areas like watersheds. These ar
eas would be opened to logging
agencies and other fire reduction
crews, who would travel into the
area and remove fuel — trees, brush
and snags — that could turn a small
natural fire into a roaring uncontrol
lable bum.
Hal Salwasser, Oregon State Uni
versity forestry dean, said the main
goal of the plan was to reduce fire
hazards in areas where a bum could
threaten a community or other im
portant resource. Salwasser said the
HFI was a step in the right direction
but did not go far enough. He said
forest systems have been managed
under a no-fire policy, and because
of it, small amounts of fuel that ac
cumulate each year have not been
removed from the forest floor, leav
ing piles of combustible material
that are essentially tinder boxes
waiting for a spark.
“Fire is a natural part of a ecosys
tem, but the ecosystem we have
created is not natural for fire,” Sal
wasser said.
Rod Nichols, Oregon Department
of Forestry Public Affairs manager,
said federal forestlands in Oregon
are facing a forest health crisis due
to a lack of management.
“Lawsuits and appeals brought by
environmental groups against near
ly every timber sale proposed on
forest service lands have impaired
the agency’s ability to thin forests
and maintain health,” Nichols said.
“As a result, stands have become
overly dense.”
Nichols said forest management
on privately-owned and state
owned land has been much more
successful than on federal lands.
“The owners are motivated to
thin their forests and keep the
Adam Amato Emerald
Across the nation last summer, fires burned more than 7.1 million acres of land and killed more than 21 firefighters.
stands healthy and resistant to
disease, insects and fire because
they are dependent on these lands
for a livelihood,” he said. “It is
similar on state-owned forest
lands. Oregon Department of
Forestry actively manages its
800,000 acres of state forests to
maintain good forest health.”
Not everyone believes the HFI and
increased levels of management are
good things for forestlands, however.
Rick Gorman of the Native Forest
Council, a nonprofit organization
seeking to “end all industrial extrac
tion on natural lands,” said no
amount of logging, even in the name
of fire prevention, will be acceptable
on public lands until commercial log
ging is put to an end and the USDA
Forest Service is restructured.
Patriot II
continued from page 1
advocates, crippling civil liberties.
“The new Ashcroft proposal
threatens to fundamentally alter
the constitutional protections that
allow us to be both safe and free,”
said Timothy H. Edgar, an AGLU
legislative counsel. “If it becomes
law, it will encourage police spying
on political and religious activities,
allow the government to wiretap
without going to court and dramat
ically expand the death penalty
under an overbroad definition
of terrorism.”
However, government officials
have cautioned that citizens
should not be alarmed by the draft
legislation. After the Center for
Public Integrity revealed “Patriot
II” to the public, Barbara Corn
stock, director of public affairs for
the Justice Department, released a
statement affirming the Justice De
partment’s commitment to home
land security.
“During our internal delibera
tions, many ideas are considered,
some are discarded and new ideas
emerge in the process along with
numerous discussion drafts,” she
stated. “Department staff have not
presented any final proposals to ei
ther the Attorney General or the
White House. It would be premature
to speculate on any future deci
sions, particularly ideas or propos
als that are still being discussed at
staff levels.”
But organizations critical of the
legislation, such as the LCBORDC
and the AGLU, are cautioning citi
zens of the threats on their person
al liberties, warning that “Patriot
II” endangers such constitutional
guarantees as personal privacy and
freedom of speech, association
and religion.
For example, under Section 501,
Americans can be stripped of their
citizenship for providing support to
any group the government desig
nates as a “terrorist organization.”
The AGLU said it objected to this
provision because under such a def
inition, domestic protest organiza
tions such as People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals could be tar
geted. Sections 301-306 contain
language for establishing a DNA ter
rorist identification database, which
the AGLU claims will “allow for the
sampling and cataloguing of inno
cent Americans’ genetic informa
tion without court order and with
out consent.”
The Eugene Middle East Peace
Group is sponsoring a forum enti
tled “Civil Liberties in a Time of Cri
sis,” at the First United Methodist
Church at 7 p.m. on Thursday to
address perceived threats to consti
tutional protections. The event will
include personal stories, discussion,
opportunities for action and a panel
of speakers from the LCBORDC, the
ACLU and the Network for Immi
grant Justice.
Contact the senior news reporter
at jenniferbear@dailyemerald.com.
“We’re talking about the last
vestiges of natural wild land,” Gor
man said. “They’d take every last
tree if they could. We cannot let
them into the areas because we
cannot trust them to act only in
the name of fire prevention — and
not their own interest.”
Gorman’s not alone in his dis
trust. Thanks to a coalition of ac
tivists, this summer’s battle over the
Healthy Forest Initiative may not be
easily won.
Contact the senior reporter
at aimeerudin@dailyemerald.com.
20
JH ANNIVERSARY
' CELEBRATION
MAY 2-4
Friday-Sunday
10% Discount
Save 10% on any one item purchased
during anniversary weekend
REGISTER TO WIN
Prize drawings throughout weekend
Special Grand Prize drawing on Sunday
Gift w/Boot purchase
Buy any Birkenstock boot over $200 &
receive a free fleece vest or day pack
Anniversary hours
Fri May 2,10-8
Sat May 3,10-6
Sun May 4,11-5
After 20 years,
what's a few
more hours?
Music & Refreshments
Friday evening 5-8
FOOTWISE
THE BIRKENSTOCK STORE
181 E Broadway * Downtown Eugene • 342-6107
Mon-Fri, 10-6 & Sun 11-5
o 15:00-16:50 P.M.
2 June 23 - July 18
cS CRN 42044 Professor Henry Alley
Writing;
FICTION
iUMMEB2W3 .
have to oe an honors student to lake this c
SI
You do not
Open to all students with sophomore standing or above.
This course will begin with the journal,
move to autobiography and fictionalized
first-person accounts and will conclude
with third-person short stories.
In class, the stories of Welty, Carver,
Porter, Woolf, O’Connor, and
Walker will be discussed to
highlight technique, as well as
concerns of characterization,
style, tone, and plot. When
appropriate, we will listen to
recordings of authors reading their
own works.
Writing assignments include several
stories and a writer’s journal. Class
enrollment is limited to twenty-two.
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g^g*! gp.
\r I I I I m^Sm I
Friday May 2nd 7:00 pm
Central Presbyterian Church
15th and Ferry
Admission $8 Students $5
Tickets at Door
Proceeds benefit Central
Presbyterian Nicaraguan Trip