Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

For the Forests

Aired May 20, 2003 - 11:08   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We've been listening to President Bush. He's at the White House today, talking about introducing something called the Healthy Forest Initiative. It's a plan to speed the clearing of brush and timber and speed up those operations in forests across the U.S. He is intending this and supporters intending this to help prevent the very serious wild fires that we have seen across the U.S. over the last couple years.
President Bush citing some numbers, just over the last years, 7 million acres last year, major blazes in 15 states, hundreds of homes lost, and a number of firefighter losing their lives as well. However, everyone is not going to think that this is a great plan. Environmentalists have some serious concerns with this possibility.

Let's bring in eight now Professor Norman Christensen of Duke University, a professor of ecology there.

Professor, thanks for joining us

NORMAN CHRISTENSEN, PROFESSOR OF ECOLOGY, DUKE UNIVERSITY: My pleasure.

KAGAN: Let's look at the other side of this argument. Nobody is particularly in favor of out of control forest fires, and yet there's definite different beliefs about how the forests should be managed.

CHRISTENSEN: You know, that is true. There's much that at least I can agree with on what the president has in his plans; there's no question that past management has resulted in forest change. And that's contributed to the flammability of our forest over many areas of the west.

KAGAN: If I could just jump in for a second. Let's look at last year in Arizona. Big criticism because you've had years and years of fighting. You have homeowner interests, you have environmentalist interests, you have conservative interests. Everyone fights and nothing happens. Then it just turns into this giant pile of timber that just burned out of control and lost too many homes and lives.

CHRISTENSEN: That's true. I think Arizona is an interesting situation that involves the culmination of now nearly 100 years of forest management in areas that have been invaded by lots of small and very flammable material.

If one looks at the fires, there's no question that fuels are important, and particularly thinning out in many areas the smaller fuels is really critical. At the same time, we need to realize that the in growth or influx of people into fire prone areas, as well as climatic events have contributed enormously as well.

I think it's very important to realize that we will need to go in and do work to restore many of our forests. It's also important to realize we aren't going to go in just one time, fix it and then be done. We're talking about a long-term issue. It's taken 100 years to get to this point, and it's going to take us decades of management and thinking and monitoring to restore these particular areas.

KAGAN: So it's clear something has to be done. But how do you know when it's too much, when you're not giving a green light for people to level and ruin the forest?

CHRISTENSEN: I think at the moment I would say the science is a bit unperfect or imperfect, and this is an area where we do need some monitoring. Nevertheless, we do know that the level of fuel that is carrying these forests can be modified; that we can lower the risk, particularly in areas close to human habitation and whether there are threats to human life and property. So I think this can be done.

KAGAN: Professor Norman Christensen from Duke University, professor, thanks for letting us get some insight into the situation. We didn't want to get into a so-called heated debate with people on either side. We wanted to get somebody who studies this for a living. We appreciate your insight today, sir.

CHRISTENSEN: I thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired May 20, 2003 - 11:08   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We've been listening to President Bush. He's at the White House today, talking about introducing something called the Healthy Forest Initiative. It's a plan to speed the clearing of brush and timber and speed up those operations in forests across the U.S. He is intending this and supporters intending this to help prevent the very serious wild fires that we have seen across the U.S. over the last couple years.
President Bush citing some numbers, just over the last years, 7 million acres last year, major blazes in 15 states, hundreds of homes lost, and a number of firefighter losing their lives as well. However, everyone is not going to think that this is a great plan. Environmentalists have some serious concerns with this possibility.

Let's bring in eight now Professor Norman Christensen of Duke University, a professor of ecology there.

Professor, thanks for joining us

NORMAN CHRISTENSEN, PROFESSOR OF ECOLOGY, DUKE UNIVERSITY: My pleasure.

KAGAN: Let's look at the other side of this argument. Nobody is particularly in favor of out of control forest fires, and yet there's definite different beliefs about how the forests should be managed.

CHRISTENSEN: You know, that is true. There's much that at least I can agree with on what the president has in his plans; there's no question that past management has resulted in forest change. And that's contributed to the flammability of our forest over many areas of the west.

KAGAN: If I could just jump in for a second. Let's look at last year in Arizona. Big criticism because you've had years and years of fighting. You have homeowner interests, you have environmentalist interests, you have conservative interests. Everyone fights and nothing happens. Then it just turns into this giant pile of timber that just burned out of control and lost too many homes and lives.

CHRISTENSEN: That's true. I think Arizona is an interesting situation that involves the culmination of now nearly 100 years of forest management in areas that have been invaded by lots of small and very flammable material.

If one looks at the fires, there's no question that fuels are important, and particularly thinning out in many areas the smaller fuels is really critical. At the same time, we need to realize that the in growth or influx of people into fire prone areas, as well as climatic events have contributed enormously as well.

I think it's very important to realize that we will need to go in and do work to restore many of our forests. It's also important to realize we aren't going to go in just one time, fix it and then be done. We're talking about a long-term issue. It's taken 100 years to get to this point, and it's going to take us decades of management and thinking and monitoring to restore these particular areas.

KAGAN: So it's clear something has to be done. But how do you know when it's too much, when you're not giving a green light for people to level and ruin the forest?

CHRISTENSEN: I think at the moment I would say the science is a bit unperfect or imperfect, and this is an area where we do need some monitoring. Nevertheless, we do know that the level of fuel that is carrying these forests can be modified; that we can lower the risk, particularly in areas close to human habitation and whether there are threats to human life and property. So I think this can be done.

KAGAN: Professor Norman Christensen from Duke University, professor, thanks for letting us get some insight into the situation. We didn't want to get into a so-called heated debate with people on either side. We wanted to get somebody who studies this for a living. We appreciate your insight today, sir.

CHRISTENSEN: I thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com