Statement from Sen. Allen at bottom of page
From Fox News, Nov. 17
EAGAR, Ariz. — The Wallow Fire was the biggest fire in Arizona history, and now a group from the White Mountain region, made up of lawmakers, business owners and residents, wants more control over the forest.
The group, calling themselves “Courage to Stand for Arizona’s Forests,” says this fire could have been less damaging, had the forest been cleared.
“Our tree density in some areas is running anywhere from 1,200 trees per acre to 2,200 trees per acre. And it is supposed to be, according to the Department of Interior, 70 trees per acre,” says Doyle Shamley from Apache County Natural Resources.
The Wallow Fire burned mostly on federal land. The group, led by State Sen. Sylvia Allen, wants to challenge federal policies and get state and private entities into the forest to help clear it out.
“All of our people up on our mountain are from all political persuasions, and I would say confidently that 95 percent of them are behind what we are trying to do. They want to save our forest,” says Sen. Allen.
They met with other state legislators at the capitol today. They believe changing policies and allowing forest thinning will create jobs and help prevent another big fire.
“We can drive up there, physically drive up there, but if you dare touch it then they want to start threatening you with resource damage and a whole myriad of federal crimes,” says Shamley.
The fire also battered the region’s economy.
“For a summer business losing a month and half of business was catastrophic,” says Whitney Wiltbank.
Whitney Wiltbank’s family has owned the Sprucedale Guest Ranch for 70 years, and they’re afraid vacationers won’t come back.
Today in the forest near the ranch, many burned trees are still standing.
“If they don’t get to those places where the trees have been killed, they are going to start falling over and it’s going to become a fire hazard again,” says Wiltbank.
Apache County lawmakers recently passed their own resolution demanding that if federal authorities don’t start thinning forests, they would start doing it themselves.
We contacted the Forest Service this afternoon, but never got a response.
Statement by Sen. Sylvia Allen
News Conference on Forest Fires – November 17, 2011
The Fire season is over but the consequences are not. Arizona forests are still in a state of emergency. We must aggressively thin and log to return our forest to pre-settlement stands of trees that our ecosystem can support.
The fires left thousands upon thousands of trees dead, and the consequences will be a clogged forest of trees that are falling over and emitting CO2 for years to come.
“Studies show that the consequences of the burned soil will impact the regeneration of the Ponderosa Pine,” say the forestry scientists at the Ecological Institute in Flagstaff.
The consequence of flooding is felt every time we have a thunderstorm. The silt has entered our streams and killed endangered fish.
The consequence to the economy of a lost summer of tourism is still being born by our rural citizens and cannot be overstated.
Further catastrophic fires are still in Arizona’s future. Arizona’s forest is in a state-of-emergency and will be for decades if the federal government does not act now. The over- growth of trees that clog the forest must be dealt with now and the federal policies roadblocks must be removed now.
We must aggressively thin and log to return our forest to pre-settlement stands of trees that our ecosystem can support.
If the Forest Service will not act now, then the State of Arizona needs to step up in this emergency and take over management of our forest lands.
