Posted: Tuesday, September 29, 2009
COEUR D'ALENE, ID - US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was in
the Northwest today to try to build support for the Obama
administration’s fire prevention strategies. Vilsack toured a wood
pellet plant in southern Idaho. He used it as an example of what
can be done with the byproducts of a forest that is thinned to
reduce the chances of huge wildfires. Vilsack spoke with our Inland
Northwest correspondent, Doug Nadvornick.
Tom Vilsack thinks the Forest Service has spent too much
money fighting fires after they start and not enough time preventing
them in the first place.
Vilsack: “The last eight or nine years the Forest Service has not had
the resources because the previous administration has allowed
resources to be used and redirected for fighting fires. So as a result,
we have a substantial accumulation of hazardous fuel.”
Vilsack says the agency is now spending more money to
burn those fuels in a controlled fashion.
He says that’s part of a larger strategy to improve the
health of federal forests, including thinning projects that remove
small trees. Vilsack says timber-dependent communities in the
Northwest will benefit from regular forest restoration work that
keeps people employed.
The secretary says the Forest Service will soon work with
state and private agencies to create a national forestry plan.
Copyright 2009 Spokane Public Radio