Salazar, others accuse feds of flailing on fires
 

"The Katrina of the West," the senator calls Colorado, saying that money to treat damaged forests and cut fire risks is thin.
 

by Mike Soraghan
Denver Post Staff Writer
DenverPost.com

Washington - Sen. Ken Salazar complained Wednesday that lack of money has stymied most of the projects to treat bark beetle-damaged forests in Colorado to reduce wildfire risk.

"I look at Colorado as the Katrina of the West," Salazar said. "We are simply not doing enough."

Salazar's criticism came as senators from Western states scolded Bush administration officials for what they said was the slow pace of efforts to decrease the risk of catastrophic fires.

So far this year, 4.5 million acres have burned in the West. By this time last year, a little more than 3 million acres had burned.

"You've got big chunks of the West that are on fire," Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said at the hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. "We cannot afford foot dragging."

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., warned Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management officials that "there will be hell to pay" if any New Mexico towns burn because federal agencies lagged in preparing for forest fires.

But Forest Service officials defended the progress they've made in thinning the nation's undergrowth and brush-clogged forests since wildfires like Colorado's 2002 Hayman fire prodded Bush's Healthy Forests Restoration Act through Congress.

"We're not lagging behind," said Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth. "I'm proud of the progress we've made."

Colorado got $26 million this year to thin clogged and beetle- damaged forest land, enough to treat about 87,000 acres, said Paul Langowski of the Forest Service's regional headquarters in Lakewood.

Projects covering about 230,000 acres have gotten environmental approval and are ready to go in the state. Langowski said without funding restrictions, about 140,000 acres a year in Colorado could be treated.

The Healthy Forests law eased environmental restrictions on cutting trees to reduce fire danger on 20 million acres of public lands and forests.

Staff writer Mike Soraghan can be reached at 202-662-8730 or msoraghan@denverpost.com.