September 8, 2003

Cochran Helps Pass Healthy Forests Legislation
by James L. Cummins

All of our forests, public and private, from North to South to East to West, from urban to rural are at stake. We have tremendous problems - from fire to pests/pathogens to declining forest ecosystems. These forests provide clean water, habitat for fish/wildlife, inhibit sprawl and support small communities.

Throughout our Nation, including Mississippi, a lack of proper forest management has caused undue stress, resulting in poor forest health, significant loss of forests due to large-scale insect and disease outbreaks and a resulting fuel accumulation on over 200 million acres of Federal forests and millions of acres of state, local and private forests. This has resulted in an unnaturally high risk of catastrophic wildfire that not only place communities at risk, but threaten to destroy critical habitat of fish and wildlife and important watersheds.

The lack of active management on these federal forests are placing at risk millions of acres of adjacent lands which are critical to rural America and our economy. The recent wildfires are among the most destructive in the last half-century. The prevention of such fires and the spread of pests/pathogens is in the public interest, and, to the extent that reform is required to expedite preventative measures, such reforms should receive serious consideration as part of any forest legislation.

Recently, U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) led the U.S. Senate as Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry to support comprehensive forests health legislation that addresses these problems and needs facing our entire Nation. Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) was also a strong supporter.

This legislation provides a unique opportunity to recover threatened and endangered species in a manner that respects the rights of private property owners. We can also take advantage of our Nation's vast satellite technology to help detect pest and pathogen problems and quantify carbon that has been sequestered by forests. It also provides opportunities to further voluntary cooperation between state forestry agencies and private land owners by improving watersheds and controlling invasive species. Opportunities for better use of dead trees and forest thinnings, as biomass material, will be beneficial in reducing fuel loads and restoring and enhancing fish and wildlife habitat.

There is widespread agreement that the full Senate must act this fall to provide solutions to the various forest health problems that face our Nation in a manner that will protect, restore and enhance our environment.

We should not allow another session of Congress to go by without properly addressing our Nation's forest health crisis.


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