To date, wildfires have blazed through more than 5 million acres, mostly in western states, and there is no clear end in sight. As the fires rage on, new sparks are feeding an already heated environmental debate over the Clinton administration's management of national forests. Several western Republicans blame the magnitude of the fires on a lack of forest stewardship. In Montana, where the fires have forced hundreds of people from their homes, Republican Gov. Mark Racicot and congressman Rick Hill denounced the recent proposal by President Clinton and the U.S. Forest Service to ban road building within more than 40 million acres of national forests. Clinton's roadless areas initiative is intended to protect remote wilderness areas from new roads that would increase logging and motorized recreation.
Critics say the plan ignores the potential for wildfires caused by greater fuel loads.
Racicot believes some forest areas should remain roadless. But he maintains the Clinton administration tried to push through the new roadless policy without studying the potential for forest fires, invasive species and other management issues. Hill and Racicot point to a 1999 General Accounting Office report, which details the state of national forest health and notes that 39 million acres within national forests are at risk of catastrophic fire. This is a wake-up call that we need to balance stewardship on our national forests. That is twice the annual harvest in our state of 800,000 acres.