The University of Colorado team of geographers, fire ecologists and landscape ecologists examined more than 44,000 federally funded fuel-reduction projects in 11 western states between 2004 and 2008. It is the first analysis to systematically juxtapose the Forest Service’s cutting and clearing with communities and subdivisions. The researchers concluded that only 3% of the projects took place in the interface as strictly defined. An additional 8% of the work occurred within 1.5 miles of the interface, an area the team defined as a “buffer.”
Complicating the best intentions of federal fire managers to clear forest land, the study revealed that about 70% of the property in the interface is privately owned and beyond the jurisdictional reach of the U.S. Forest Service.
“It’s an odd situation when you step back from it,” Schoennagel said. “The Forest Service is in charge of fire suppression and protecting homes, yet that agency has no jurisdiction over requiring fire-wise homes and landscaping.”
Mark Rey replacement backs out
The person that Obama nominated to fill the Undersecretary of Agriculture position, formerly held by the embattled Mark Rey in the Bush administration, has changed his mind about accepting the position.
From the New West:
Homer Lee Wilkes. Photo: Jackson Free Press
Homer Lee Wilkes, President Obama’s choice to oversee the Forest Service, has withdrawn his nomination, saying it was a bad time to move his family to Washington.
“It was great for me, but when it comes to the end of the day, I had to do what’s best for my family,” Wilkes told NewWest.Net in a telephone interview on Monday afternoon.
Wilkes said because he had two sons in high school it would be a difficult time for him to move his family from their home in Mississippi.
“Had this worked for me and the timing had been right, oh yeah, I would have done it,” he said.
Wilkes would have been the first black to serve as undersecretary of agriculture in charge of the Forest Service. His selection surprised many because he had little forestry background. He is a career employee with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, an agency he also would have overseen as Agriculture undersecretary for natural resources and the environment.
The Associated Press reports that the White House has not picked a replacement for Wilkes.
Conservationists were surprised by the choice of Wilkes. The position has usually gone to someone with a forestry background.
“I think it reflects the rather low priority that the Obama White House places on public lands,” Andy Stahl, executive director of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, told NewWest.Net last month.
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