On 11 August 2003, President Bush will visit the site of the Aspen wildfire, on Mt. Lemmon just north of Tucson, Arizona. The Aspen fire started on Tuesday, June 17 at approximately 3:30 PM near Marshall Peak, about two miles from Summerhaven, Arizona. The fire grew rapidly on Thursday, June 19th, in part, because of high winds, gusting at 40- to 60-mph. These winds accounted for the fire growing from about 450 acres by early morning on June 19, to about 4,000 acres by nightfall. The Aspen Fire burned 85,000 acres. The cause remains under investigation
Napolitano Criticizes Lack of Federal Funds for Forests
In an Arizona Daily Star news article, Arizona Governor Napolitano was critical of the lack of federal funding for forests. She said, "I'm troubled to hear that federal funding fell far short of the amount that was needed to thin the federal lands on Mount Lemmon." The lack of action in Pima County, where the Aspen fire was located, is symptomatic of what is happening - or not happening - in the rest of the state. (Arizona Daily Star, 6/24/03)
"We have at least 125 communities in Arizona at risk from wildfire, not because of review processes or litigation delays but because of a lack of federal funding on the ground to actually begin the projects," Napolitano said. (Arizona Daily Star, 6/24/03)
Napolitano Emphasizes Need to Focus Efforts on Protecting At-Risk Communities
Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano also remarked, "It doesn't make any sense to me to start on the interior of the forest if you haven't first protected around the areas where the communities are." (Associated Press, 6/24/03)
Napolitano said the emphasis at this point should be on the "urban-wildlife interface" around communities, providing a break between the forest and the homes to help stop - or at least slow - the spread of wildfire. She said that has a higher priority that the debate over speeding logging projects in the interior. (Arizona Daily Star, 6/24/03)
Firewise in Summerhaven
Recent articles point to the efforts of Summerhaven residents to Firewise their community over the past year. We applaud these efforts, as they were surely a move in the right direction. It is our hope that in the future, the Forest Service will reinforce the efforts of communities located in the wildland-urban interface, to help those at risk of wildfire to protect their homes.
In the two years since the Committee for Building a Firewise Community on Mount Lemmon was formed, the program had persuaded an estimated 60 percent of Summerhaven's 700 cabin owners to protect their homes from fire. (Arizona Daily Star, 6/21/03)
One of the projects closest to the Aspen fire area, the "Red/Bear/Soldier Fuel Reduction project," was proposed in October 2001 and is currently stalled. According to the latest National Environmental Policy Act calender, "project implementation is on hold because of lack of funding." The area that would have been covered by this fuel reduction project was located in the wildland-uban interface, just southeast of Summerhaven. Several homes lost in the Aspen fire were in this project area.
(www.fs.fed.us/r3/coronado/information/proposed_actions/santa_catalina/santa_catalina.html)
[NOTE: The estimated decision date for this project was February 2003, but at this time, there is no indication that a decision has been made to move forward.]
Summerhaven's Request for Buffer Zone Went Unanswered
According to a December 31, 2002 Arizona Daily Star article, residents of Summerhaven were demanding that more be done to protect their homes after last year's Bullock Fire came so close to their mountaintop village. In fact, "firefighters and others in the community would like to see the U.S. Forest Service thin trees in a ring around Summerhaven." The Forest Service, however, said that efforts on Mount Lemmon would take years and cost $1 million - an amount difficult to come up with as the Forest Service is "strapped for funds." (Arizona Daily Star, 12/31/02)
Residents of Summerhaven Circulated Petition To Earmark Money for Thinning
In December 2002, a petition was circulated in Summerhaven, asking federal politicians to earmark money for thinning, arguing that a 2000 Forest Service plan to spend $400,000 per year on fuels reduction has been whittled down to $170,000. The petition, demanding treatment of defensible perimeter, read, "It is only a matter of time before a forest fire once again threatens our community's safety, wipes out more of the forest and damages the vital watershed for the mountain and desert below." (Arizona Daily Star, 12/31/02, 6/20/03)
Specialist Says More Money is Needed for Fuels Reduction
Bill Hart, fuels management specialist for the Santa Catalina Ranger District of the Coronado National Forest, believes that current funding levels are inadequate. The Coronado National Forest was armed with a depleted budget to pay for projects to remove hazardous fuels on Mount Lemmon, north of Tucson, this year. He said, last year, the projects had a $234,000 budget; this year, the amount is $120,000. (Arizona Daily Star, 6/20/03; The Arizona Republic, 6/24/03)
Bill Hart said the original $120,000 budget received a modest boost, thanks to the backing of residents in Loma Sabino, a residential area on the northeastern end of Summerhaven. At their urging, Hart pushed for more money for a project to thin out small trees and underbrush around their homes. "I begged and borrowed and stealed and got another $50,000 because of this (community) request," Hart said. (The Arizona Republic, 6/24/03)
Work started last winter and had covered about 60 acres when the Aspen fire broke out. But quicker work could have reduced the number of houses lost, said Lori Faeth, Napolitano's adviser for natural resources and environmental issues. (The Arizona Republic, 6/24/03)
The Coronado National Forest is located next to rapidly expanding urban areas
The Coronado National Forest is located next to rapidly expanding urban areas (Tucson, Oracle, Sierra Vista, Nogales and Sonoita/Patagonia). Approximately 34,000 acres of the Forest are in wildland-urban interface areas, and in the Tucson area alone there are approximately 60 miles of wildland-urban interface. (http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coronado/fire/fire.html)
Despite the growing wildland-urban interface in the area surrounding the Coronado National Forest, there has been little treatment of these areas.
The Catalina Mountain Range of the Coronado National Forests is an extremely rugged and steep range. The only practical and meaningful work that could be done on these mountains is within the wildland-urban interface, and yet the type of treatments which should have been done, and which are widely supported, have not occurred because of a lack of funding.
Coronado National Forest Received Less than Half of Funds Needed for Fuels Reduction
The National Fire Plan developed in 2000 estimated the Coronado National Forest needed $1.3 million to $1.5 million for fuels reduction each year, said Dean McAlister, the forest's fire management officer. But the Coronado got only about $500,000, and nearly half of that was spent in the Catalinas.
Even the Forest Service Says Homes and Communities Should be Top Priority
The Forest Service has emphasized the need to concentrate their efforts on the areas surrounding homes and communities. The Forest Service's Fire Science Laboratory found that the most critical steps to protecting homes and lives are 1) to clear away fuels from within 100-200 feet of homes, and 2) to fireproof buildings. (USDA Forest Service, "Reducing the Wildfire Threat to Homes: Where and How Much?" Cohen, Jack D. 1999)
For more information, please see www.wildfirecentral.org or contact:
* Chris Mehl, Communications Director, 406-586-1600,
* Eric A. Dyson, Communications Director, 202-429-2675,
* Michael Francis, National Forest Program Director, 202-429-2662
