Center for Biological Diversity

Protecting endangered species and wild places through
science, policy, education, and environmental law.

ARIZONA FIRE FACTS
FOREST SERVICE CONTINUES TO PRIORITIZE LOGGING
OF REMOTE AREAS RATHER THAN PROTECTING COMMUNITIES:
A COMPARISON OF TWO ARIZONA NATIONAL FORESTS

PRESS ADVISORY : June 26, 2003
CONTACT : Brian Segee, Southwest Public Lands Director, Center for Biological Diversity (520) 623-5252 x308
More Information: Center's Fire and Ecosystem Health Campaign

Cause still under investigation, the Aspen fire burning within the Coronado National Forest outside of Tucson, Arizona has burned more than 320 homes and businesses in and near the village of Summerhaven, within the Santa Catalina Mountains. According to Forest Service personnel, the Coronado had planned extensive thinning around Summerhaven to protect the community from inevitable wildfire, yet received only a fraction of the money requested. Forest Service officials have repeatedly stated that no appeals or litigation have been filed against proposed projects on the Forest, and that the limiting factor in protecting Summerhaven was lack of federal resources.

So where is the money going? In a comparison of spending on two Arizona National Forests (the Coronado and Kaibab National Forests), Forest Service documents show that money earmarked for hazardous fuel reduction continues to be diverted to log large trees in remote backcountry areas. The Coronado National Forest is not a timber producing forest, and has many wildland-urban interface communities. In contrast, the Kaibab National Forest (which borders the north and south rims of the Grand Canyon) has some of the largest areas of old-growth forest remaining in the Southwest, and because of its remoteness, very few wildland-urban interface communities. Despite its relative lack of wildland-urban interface communities, the Kaibab National Forest received substantially more hazardous fuels funding in Fiscal Year 2003 than the Coronado National Forest.

Despite Containing Nearly Five Times As Many High Risk Wildland-Urban Interface Communities, Coronado National Forest Receives Less Hazardous Fuel Funding than Kaibab National Forest
Number of Arizona wildland-urban interface communities near federal lands considered by federal agencies to be at high risk from wildfire: 118

Number of wildland-urban interface communities within the Kaibab National Forest considered by federal agencies to be at high risk from wildfire: 3

Dollars allocated to Kaibab National Forest for hazardous fuel reduction in Fiscal Year 2003: 1,241,000

Number of wildland-urban interface communities within the Coronado National Forest considered by federal agencies to be at high risk from wildfire: 14

Dollars allocated to Coronado National Forest for hazardous fuels reduction in Fiscal Year 2003: 877,000

Forest Service Continues to Log More Acres in Remote Areas Than Acres Treated Adjacent to Fire Prone Communities
Projected acres of “hazardous fuels” within non-wildland urban interface areas to be treated on Kaibab National Forest in Fiscal Year 2003: 3,327

Projected acres of hazardous fuels within wildland-urban interface areas to be treated on Coronado National Forest in Fiscal Year 2003: 686

Money Flows While Old-Growth Continues to Fall
Dollar value of timber sales currently under contract on the Kaibab National Forest: 322,737

Dollar value of timber sales currently under contract on the Coronado National Forest: 0

Projected amount of timber sale volume (in board feet) to be offered on the Kaibab National Forest in Fiscal Year 2003: 19,000,000

Approximate number of logging trucks filled by 19 million board feet of timber: 3,800

Sources:

“Urban Wildland Interface Communities Within the Vicinity of Federal Lands That Are at High Risks from Wildfire.” 66 Federal Register pages 751-777. January 4, 2001

U.S. Forest Service Southwestern Region Fiscal Year 2003 Final Operating Plan. May 20, 2003

U.S. Forest Service Automated Timber Sales Accounting System. Remaining Timber Sales Volumes and Values by Purchaser as of March 31, 2003

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