A dozen scientists from Arizona and New Mexico suggest changing conditions affect fire plans Albuquerque, NM - In a letter to the Forest Service, more than a dozen scientists with expertise in biodiversity and fire have recommend a scientific review of the agency's fire management plans in Arizona and New Mexico. The fire management plans "zone" the forests for fire management or total suppression. Because of changing climatic conditions and spiraling fire fighting costs, the scientists wrote to the new Southwestern Regional Forester calling for use of the best available science and consultation with state and federal wildlife agencies on the eleven fire management plans.
In response to the 1995 Federal Fire Policy and its revision in 2001, the national forests in the Southwestern Region developed Fire Management Plans. FMPs provide the underlying direction for fire management activities including fire suppression, prescribed burning, fuels reduction, post-fire rehabilitation and wildland fire use. In addition, the plans detail organizational and budgetary needs to implement an effective fire management program. But the FMPs in the Southwestern Region have neither undergone any scientific review nor received normal approvals from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Unlike the Department of Interior in the Southwest, the U.S. Forest Service has not completed an environmental analysis on any of its fire management plans nor requested formal consultation from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Because of the potential negative impacts of fire suppression and the exclusion of fire as well as the potential benefits of allowing some fire back onto the landscape, the scientists are calling on the U.S. Forest Service to incorporate the best available science.
|
|
info@wildearthguardians.org | © WildEarth Guardians | Historical Archives | Privacy Policy