ECONOMICS VS. ENVIRONMENTALISM IN FIRES AFTERMATH

posted by Michael Chihak

The monsoon rains of the last few days didn't come soon enough to keep nearly 1 million acres of forest and grassland, along with dozens of homes and businesses, from burning in Arizona.

Now comes the No. 1 question: Can we stop it from happening again?

Friday's Arizona Week will explore the issue, featuring interviews with two state politicians and a forest ranger to sort out some of the rhetoric over conflicting business and environmental interests.

State Rep. Brenda Barton, R-Safford, in whose district the Wallow Fire burned for more than a month to become the state's largest wildfire ever, held a hearing this week in Phoenix to bring various interest groups together.

Barton, in an interview for Arizona Week, said she wants business interests to take a role, specifically timbering and cattle ranching.

"We had almost a million acres burned within the last couple of months. In my opinion, that's really unacceptable. If you're not going to allow it to be harvested but you allow it to be burned, I don't understand that methodology," Barton said.

She said private timbering businesses should be allowed in to help with thinning, the incentive for them being they keep and market what they cull.

Cattle grazing also ought to be allowed on federal forest lands, Barton said, because it can be done scientifically, not like in the 19th century when cattle denuded the grasslands.

More of her interview on Friday's program, plus the counterpoint from Arizona Rep. Bruce Wheeler, D-Tucson, and a conversation with a ranger from the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, site of the W538,000-acre Wallow Fire.