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MISSOULA, MT - With wildfires currently burning throughout Montana, and much of the western United States, it is unfortunate that the Montana Wood Products Association, Governor Racicot and Congressman Hill have decided to use this dire situation to push their political and economic agenda of increasing logging and roadbuilding in America's National Forests.

"Obviously, at this critical time for families and communities throughout the Rockies, the desperate and unethical calls of the timber industry and their supporters to increase logging and roadbuilding in National Forests requires a response," said Phil Knight of the Native Forest Network.

"While people lose their homes to raging, unstoppable wildfires and the rest of us choke on smoke, Hill, Racicot and the timber barons blame the National Forest Roadless Initiative and decreased timber sales in National Forests for the fires, hoping to whip people into a hysteria to change public trends and attitudes about National Forest protection efforts they disagree with. Hill and Racicot should be spending their time helping those affected by the wildfires, rather than lobbying for industry to increase timber cutting and roadbuilding in National Forests."

"The calls by the timber industry and their supporters to increase logging in National Forests to reduce the risk of fire-at a time when families and communities are pulling together to cope with the situation-are not only highly unethical and immoral, but they are also not backed up by the facts," said Matthew Koehler of the Native Forest Network.

"The truth of the matter is that since 1996, Congress has spent over $57 million on scientific assessments that have concluded commercial logging to be the primary human activity causing an increase in wildfire intensity and severity," continued Koehler.

"Moreover, these government studies have revealed that no matter what logging system is used-thinning, salvaging, or clearcutting-areas that have been logged and roaded experience more rapid rates of fire spread, higher fire intensities, and greater fire severity than unlogged areas," claimed Koehler.

"We would like to request that the Montana Wood Products Association, Governor Racicot and Congressman Rick Hill wait until the danger of wildfires passes until they begin pushing forward their political agenda to increase logging and roadbuilding in America's National Forests," said Koehler. (more)

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT'S OWN SCIENTISTS
SAY ABOUT LOGGING AND WILDFIRES:

"Timber harvest, through its effects on forest structure, local microclimate, and fuels accumulation, has increased fire severity more than any other recent human activity."
-Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project, 1996. Final Report to Congress

"Logged areas generally showed a strong association with increased rate of spread and flame length, thereby suggesting that tree harvesting could affect the potential fire behavior within landscapes. In general, rate of spread and flame length were positively correlated with the proportion of area logged in the sample watersheds."

        -Historical and Current Forest Landscapes in Eastern Oregon and Washington. Part II: Linking Vegetation Characteristics to Potential Fire Behavior and Related Smoke Production (PNW-GTR-355)

"As a by-product of clearcutting, thinning, and other tree-removal activities, activity fuels create both short- and long-term fire hazards to ecosystems. The potential rate of spread and intensity of fires associated with recently cut logging residues is high, especially the first year or two as the material decays. High fire-behavior hazards associated with the residues can extend, however, for many years depending on the tree. Even though these hazards diminish, their influence on fire behavior can linger for up to 30 years in the dry forest ecosystems of eastern Washington and Oregon."

        -Historical and Current Forest Landscapes in Eastern Oregon and Washington. Part II: Linking Vegetation Characteristics to Potential Fire Behavior and Related Smoke Production (PNW-GTR-355)

"It appears significant that many large fires in the western United States have burned almost exclusively in slash. Some of these fires have stopped when they reached uncut timber; none has come to attention that started in green timber and stopped when it reached a slash area."
-G.R. Fahnestock, 1968. "Fire hazard from pre- commercially thinning ponderosa pine." U.S. Forest Service

"Fire severity has generally increased and fire frequency has generally decreased over the last 200 years. The primary causative factors behind fire regime changes are effective fire prevention and suppression strategies, selection and regeneration cutting, domestic livestock grazing, and the introduction of exotic plants."
-Integrated Scientific Assessment for Ecosystem Management in the Interior Columbia Basin (PNW-GTR-382)

"The high rate of human-caused fires has generally been associated with high recreational use in areas of higher road densities."
-An Assessment of Ecosystem Components in the Interior Columbia Basin and Portions of the Klamath and Great Basins-Volume II (PNW-GTR-405)