June 2, 2003

House Passes Healthy Forests Legislation
by James L. Cummins

Earlier this year, the Healthy Forests Restoration Act was introduced in Congress by Congressmen Greg Walden (OR) and Scott McInnis (CO). Congressmen Roger Wicker, Bennie Thompson and Chip Pickering were co-sponsors of the bill. Congressman Thompson was the first Democrat in the Nation to become a co-sponsor.

For the first time in the history of our nation, we have influential congressmen recognizing that forest health does not end with fire prevention. The Act is a comprehensive attempt to improve forest health. It would empower public land managers with tools to implement scientifically-based management practices, while establishing new conservation programs on private lands.

My favorite title of the bill is the Healthy Forests Reserve Program. It is a conservation initiative that would restore one-million acres of rare forest ecosystems that are critical to, amongst other things, recovering threatened/endangered species. The longleaf pine ecosystem in South Mississippi will be a major beneficiary.

Some people have stated that the bill should be limited to fire prevention. That is like saying that hospitals should only consist of burn units. Like people, healthy forests, public and private, require nurturing (good seedlings or seeds), providing proper food and nutrition (thinning to prevent overpopulation of trees), stopping the spread of disease (cutting the "cancer" out of the forest - beetles, etc.), taking special care of the less fortunate (rare forests) and preventing air pollution (burning).

If we look at the treatment of our forests like we treat our bodies, our Nation's quality of life - animals and humans - will be much better. If everybody was as dedicated to providing comprehensive health care for all of our forests as these co-sponsors and President Bush, we would not be having this debate.

We can't put our forests in a lock box. They are living systems and will change with or without us. We have to restore them. We have to manage them. We have to protect them. These basic principles will allow us to have healthy forests - which includes clean air and water, quality fish and wildlife resources and strong communities for generations to come. We cannot always agree on everything we want from our forests, but we can all agree that we want them to be healthy and vibrant. This is what the Healthy Forest Initiative and the Healthy Forests Restoration Act are all about.

It's easy for people to throw rocks at this process. But when it takes a good-sized tree just to produce the paper to complete the necessary reviews for a small forest health project, the system is broken. Let's quit stalling and solve the problem.

James L. Cummins is Executive Director of the Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation in Stoneville, Mississippi. Known as "Wildlife Mississippi," the Foundation is a non-profit, conservation organization founded to conserve, restore and enhance fish, wildlife and plant resources throughout Mississippi