Some advocate shelving the project altogether until data from the existing restoration projects can be better analyzed. Winfree says many of the comments will be incorporated into the final plan. As for precedent, he notes that timber cutting has long been used in national parks for fire management and pest control. University of Arizona tree-ring specialist Thomas Swetnam says research shows that fires have increased in intensity dramatically over the past three decades and that unprecedented scars created by subsequent erosion have appeared for the first time on the Southwestern landscape. Swetnam says it's important to remember the 1964 Wilderness Act lists scientific research as one of the reasons for having wilderness.
People forget that.
The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Y A proposal to allow limited logging in the Grand Canyon to battle forest fires is drawing political and environmental fires. We're not arguing over the problem.