For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 12, 2002
Statement by the President
Just three weeks ago, I visited Oregon to see firsthand the devastating
effects of the catastrophic wildfires that have burned more than 6
million acres of forests across the West this summer. I also
announced a new and common sense initiative to restore forest health
and prevent these unnaturally severe fires. I directed Secretaries
Veneman and Norton to work with Congress to develop legislation to
address the crisis in forest and rangeland health that has put more
than 190 million acres of public land -- an area twice the size of
California -- at risk of catastrophic fires. We have a simple choice:
We can act now to protect these forests, or we can stand by and watch
them burn. Secretaries Norton and Veneman delivered to Congress a
legislative package that meets our responsibility to reduce fire risks
quickly in high-priority areas, and I am very pleased that this
proposal was introduced in the House of Representatives today. There is
bipartisan agreement that public lands of the West are desperately in
need of active management efforts to restore forest and rangeland
health. I call upon Congress to act upon this urgent priority as
quickly as possible.
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