Norton and Veneman Assemble Team to Work
on President Bush's Healthy Forests Initiative

Allan Fitzsimmons Appointed Fuels Coordinator
for the Interior Department

WASHINGTON -- Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman and Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton today announced the names of senior officials assigned to work as a joint federal team on President Bush's healthy forest initiative. The team will work to meet the directive by the President to improve the regulatory process to ensure more timely decisions, greater efficiency, and better results in reducing the risk of catastrophic fires. The departments will coordinate their efforts with Council on Environmental Quality Chairman Jim Connaughton. The team will begin its work immediately.

Team members are listed below:

        Undersecretary for Conservation and Natural Resources Mark Rey
         Deputy Undersecretary for Natural Resources David Tenny
        Chief of U.S. Forest Service Dale Bosworth

U.S. Department of the Interior

        Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget Lynn Scarlett,
         Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Rebecca Watson
         Solicitor of the Interior Bill Myers
        Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb
        Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks Craig Manson

The President's healthy forests initiative calls for more active management of public lands to reduce the risk of extreme wildfires. The 2002 fire season is already one of the worst in American history and may break all records. Six million acres of public and private lands have burned this year, with more than a month of fire season remaining. This fire season has destroyed hundreds of millions of trees, hundreds of thousands of acres of endangered species habitat and thousands of homes and structures. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from communities all across the West.

Allan K. Fitzsimmons Appointed Wildland Fuels Coordinator

Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton today announced the appointment of Allan K. Fitzsimmons as the Department of the Interior's Fuel Coordinator. In this newly created position Fitzsimmons will coordinate and implement fuels treatment on lands managed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service. This appointment does not require confirmation by the U.S. Senate and is effective immediately.

"This new position supports our commitment to fully implement the President's "Healthy Forests" initiative and the 10-year Implementation Plan that was signed this past May by the Western Governors, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, and me," Norton said. "Allan Fitzsimmons has a solid reputation as a problem-solver, having worked on a wide range of natural resource issues in and out of government service, and I welcome him to my team."

Fitzsimmons will coordinate fuels treatment analysis and strategies among Interior agencies and work in concert with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service. He will represent the Secretary in consultation with state, county, and local officials, as well as with other stakeholders when making land-use management decisions involving fuels treatment.

Allan Fitzsimmons brings 25 years of experience in working with natural resource issues to this position, including previous service at the Interior Department. He served as a special assistant to the Deputy Director of the National Park Service (1983-1985), the Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks (1985-1989), and the Deputy Under Secretary for Policy, Planning and Development at the Department of Energy (1989-1992).

Fitzsimmons has authored one book and dozens of professional publications and papers. An avid rower, he and his wife live in Woodbridge, Va. He has three daughters and five grandchildren.