FOREST BILL'S FUTURE UNCLEAR.Byline: Lisa Friedman Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - As wildfires continued to rage Tuesday through Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , lawmakers in the U.S. Senate wrangled over the future of a major forest fire bill. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein (born June 22, 1933) is the senior U.S. Senator from California, having held office as a senator since 1992. She is a member of the Democratic Party. is leading an effort with nine other lawmakers to negotiate a compromise that would speed up forest thinning while protecting large, old-growth trees from logging. But environmentalists oppose the bill. Feinstein noted that in the past five years, wildfires have devoured 26.9 million acres across the country, and more than 1.16 million acres of forestland for·est·land n. A section of land covered with forest or set aside for the cultivation of forests. in California alone. ``I believe we must take steps now to reduce the horror of forest fires This is a list of notorious forest fires: North America Year Size Name Area Notes 1825 3,000,000 acres (12,000 km²) Miramichi Fire New Brunswick Killed 160 people. ,'' Feinstein said. ``They come every year, we know they're coming, and we have not adjusted our forest practices.'' The bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden Ronald Lee Wyden (born May 3, 1949) is Oregon's senior United States Senator. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Early career and personal life Wyden was born in Wichita, Kansas to Edith Rosenow and Peter H. , D-Ore., whose state also has been hit hard by wildfires, builds on President George W. Bush's ``Healthy Forests'' initiative that was roundly criticized by the environmental community as a giveaway to logging interests. The House passed that bill in May, 256-170. The Feinstein-Wyden version relaxes environmental restrictions on clearing forest undergrowth and speeds judicial reviews of legal challenges to thinning. The Sierra Club Sierra Club, national organization in the United States dedicated to the preservation and expansion of the world's parks, wildlife, and wilderness areas. Founded (1892) in California by a group led by the Scottish-American conservationist John Muir, the Sierra Club slammed Feinstein's proposal as one that ``interferes with the judicial system, increases commercial logging, leaves old-growth and roadless forests vulnerable, all the while doing little or nothing to reduce the risk of wildfire to Western communities.'' Lisa Friedman, (202) 662-8731 lisa.friedman(at)langnews.com |
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