April 29, 2003
House Resource Committee members
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C.
RE: Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003
Dear Committee Member:
On behalf of our 12,000 members, I write in opposition H.R. 1904, the “Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003,” as currently drafted. Insofar as the committee will meet in mark-up session tomorrow, I will illustrate flaws with the bill by focusing on one section – Title IV — Insect Infestations.
Title IV creates a new categorical exclusion (CE) from the public disclosure requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for timber harvest, insecticide treatments, prescribed burning, or any combination thereof in units of up to 1,000 acres. The bill places no limit on the number of 1,000–acre treatments that can be located contiguously to each other. Thus, there is no practical limit to the size of treatments covered by this new CE.
The bill justifies this novel and expansive exemption from NEPA on the grounds that certain insect species pose catastrophic threats to our national forests. The scientific literature, however, does not support the bill’s claims. The bill cites five insects as justification for its unprecedented waiver of NEPA. They are:
Emerald Ash Borer — This exotic insect is known to occur in only 5 Michigan counties (in and around Detroit, Flint, and Ann Arbor), none located within 100 miles of any national forest. According to the Forest Service, “there is no need to treat ash trees unless you live in one of the infested counties.” Michigan Extension Service Bulletin
Hemlock woolly aldegid — This exotic insect arrived in the United States in 1924. It attacks Eastern and Carolina hemlock. According to the Forest Service, insecticides are not a feasible treatment option in forested stands. The only control currently under study is a biological predatory insect native to the hemlock woolly aldegid’s Asian homeland. Use of the predator requires no logging or other silvicultural treatment to implement. Nor have the requirements of NEPA adversely affected predator studies or assessments.
Red oak borer — The red oak borer is an insect native to North America. Current outbreaks of red oak borer are primarily the result of drought. No direct treatments are available for the immediate remediation of this mortality. Woodpeckers are the most important biological control mechanism for the red oak borer, often reducing larval numbers by 40 percent. Injudicious logging can remove the dead trees upon which woodpeckers rely for nesting and feeding.
White oak borer — This insect is also native to North America. It is not reported to be at epidemic levels anywhere in the nation.
Southern pine beetle — This ubiquitous beetle is native to the southeastern United States. Outbreaks of the beetle have been reported since the 1700s as a part of the beetle's natural cyclical population dynamics. Efforts at insecticidal control were eliminated in the 1970s when it was discovered that the beetle continued to persist and that the chemicals killed the beetle's natural predators. Silvicultural methods to limit tree mortality are well established and focus on controlling stand density to ensure good tree vigor and sanitation salvage of beetle–killed trees.
In sum, there is no scientific justification for the wholesale revocation of NEPA this bill proposes. The bill might also create the unintended consequence of diverting scarce resources from bona fide forest health matters.
In addition, unplanned prescribed burning, as permitted by the bill, could threaten communities and homes. Recall that the nation's largest loss to wildfires of the past decade occurred when a poorly–planned federal prescribed burn escaped and burned a major portion of Los Alamos, N.M. Title IV would permit unplanned prescribed burning on a potentially massive scale with no public accountability.
Sincerely,
Andy Stahl, Executive Director
Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics
Click here for a copy of H.R. 1904, the “Healthy Forests Restoration Act”
