U.S. Department of the Interior
Office of the Secretary

Jamie Workman (202)208-6416


For Release: May 9, 1996

Advocates careful fire use to boost wildland health, productivity

Fresh from his experience out on the fire lines of Arizona, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt today gave an address to the 20th Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference in Boise, ID. He spoke to unite ranchers, loggers, conservationists and outdoor enthusiasts, arguing that investing with care in prescribed wildland fire will yield rangelands and forests that are healthier, safer and more productive over the long term. "Nine decades of strenuous fire suppression have reduced the natural diversity and vitality of our plants and wildlife," said Babbitt. "Too many trees must compete for scarce nutrients and water, causing serious problems of forest health." "Recent national polls, practices, and the Yellowstone experience all confirm that America supports the role of fire in growth, stability and renewal," said Babbitt. "But the consensus for prescribed fire is much harder to obtain on multiple use lands in the West, where competing stakeholders may often distrust each other." In order to forge a consensus behind prescribed wildland fire, Babbitt argues for: Using the Bureau of Land Management's newly created Resource Advisory Councils to build federal-state-private coalitions at the local level, finding where all parties can agree on how, where, when and why to prescribe fire. Reinvesting a larger share of the proceeds from public lands to maintain the health and productivity of those resources. "To reform fire policy, history provides us with a good consensus-building precedent," said Babbitt. "For back in 1911, after scientists, stakeholders and the public all united to suppress fire, that Congress provided the funds and legal mechanism to create the premier firefighting system in the world. Now, as the national paradigm continues to shift toward prescribed fire, this Congress should respond in kind." -DOI-