In April 1999 the U. S. General Accounting Office (GAO) released a report on the forest services' approach to wildfire management, calling into serious question the use of the timber sales program to address fire issues. The GAO notes; "most of the trees that need to be removed to reduce accumulated fuels are small in diameter and little or no commercial value." Consequently to make these timber sales "palatable" to industry the forest service includes more large, commercially valuable trees.

· There are all kinds of problems and challenges associated with roads," including a "higher incident of forest fires in roaded areas...

-Forest Service Chief, Mike Dombeck

· "Old growth is not the problem. What is needed is to take care of the underbrush and dry twigs. The majority of the materials that we need to take out is not commercial timber. It is up to three and four inches in diameter. We can't sell it. Fire suppression and drought are to blame."

-Denny Truesdale, Assistant Director for Fire Ecology and Training, USDA Forest Service, Washington Office. August 10, 2000

· "Timber harvest through its effects on forest structure, local microclimate and fuel accumulation, has increased fire severity more than any other recent human activity"

-1996 study of the Sierra Nevada forests, commissioned and funded by Congress

· "Fires in unroaded areas are not as severe as in roaded areas because of less surface fuel. Fires in roaded areas are more intense, due to drier conditions, high surface-fuel loading, and dense stands. The primary causative factors behind fire regime changes are effective fire prevention and suppression strategies, selection and regeneration cutting, domestic livestock grazing, and the introduction of exotic plants."

-Integrated Scientific Assessment for Ecosystem Management in the Interior Columbia.

For additional information see the Forest Service Website at                 http://roadless.fs.fed.us/qa/fhfire.shtml