Please Don’t Choke On The Logic Of It All

What does it take to make federal government embrace air pollution? Answer: Make it kin to the wolf, a tool of ecological restoration, an alternative to (ugh) salvage logging.

Suddenly, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has announced that forest fires are good. Just don’t tell the clean-air division of the Environmental Protection Agency, or try to explain it to bluegrass growers in trouble for using fire to help their plants.

Sure, it’s good news Babbitt noticed the West’s forest-health crisis. His pals in the Wilderness Society have denied such a crisis exists, largely because any rational solution would have to involve the use of (eek) chain saws.

Last week in Boise, Babbitt gave a speech recognizing what fireravaged residents of the Inland Northwest have learned the hard way: A century of fire suppression has left Western forests packed with skinny trees and deadwood, primed for horrific conflagrations.

The solution, he said correctly, will require prescribed fires as well as logging operations to remove small trees. The goal is to bring inland forests closer to a healthy, primeval state: low-density stands of big Ponderosa pines, separated by grass and wildflowers, cleansed but not ruined by small, frequent fires.

But Babbitt wrinkled his rhetorical nose over the timber industry’s role, since it sees forests as a “tree farm.” Horrors.

Worse, Babbitt’s account of the forest health crisis fails to note the paralyzing effect of federal regulatory battles: They make work for lawyers and lobbyists, while sawmills close and forest conditions worsen. For instance: EPA’s new scheme to tighten air quality standards flies in the face of Babbitt’s plan to encourage more fires.

Should we help the environment by banning smoke or by lighting fires? The answer depends on which federal agency you ask. Stand back, this’ll be an interesting fight.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Webster/For the editorial board