Increase for Forests Is Minimal
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WASHINGTON — The Bush administration’s budget released Monday would provide little new funding to thin overgrown forests that it said were to blame for catastrophic wildfires that scorched more than 7 million acres last year.
The administration wants to spend $416 million in 2004 to cut excess trees in 2.5 million acres of forests that are at severe risk for fire. That is an increase of $3 million over the amount the president proposed for the current year, and some say it is not enough.
“That’s grossly inadequate,” said Mike Francis, a forest specialist with the Wilderness Society. “What is this administration all about -- tax cuts for the rich or protecting people’s homes?”
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said that the administration’s recommendation doesn’t even keep pace with inflation and that he expects members of Congress in the West to seek more money.
The 2002 fire season was the second-worst on record, just behind 2000. More than 7.1 million acres burned nationwide.
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