Editorial: Miracle in political season

Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2000 | 9:47 a.m.

Reason finally has prevailed when it comes to what federal policies should be adopted in response to this year's wildfires, which have devastated millions of acres in the West. On Monday six Western governors, including five Republicans, set aside any differences they had with the White House and embraced a Clinton administration firefighting plan. The policy that Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman designed was even endorsed by Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, who has been one of the harshest critics of the administration's firefighting policies. Although many of the Western governors involved are known for consensus-building, such as Utah Republican Michael Leavitt and Oregon Democrat John Kitzhaber, it still is startling that such a truce could happen in the throes of a bitterly contested presidential race.

Under the plan, Clinton will ask Congress to spend $2.8 billion on wildland protection programs, an amount that is more than twice the current $1.2 billion spent in this area. Also important was the recognition by the administration that many of the decisions regarding the health of forests should be made by state and federal officials who are locally based. It also helped that both the administration and governors agreed beforehand to temporarily set aside some of the more divisive issues, including whether timber harvesting should be used to maintain healthy forests. Nevertheless, it still was encouraging that the Clinton administration stood its ground on an important matter, insisting that it wouldn't accept commercial logging or new road building as part of a plan to reduce fire risks.

This new dialogue among the administration and the governors certainly was aided by Babbitt's involvement. A former Democratic governor of Arizona, Babbitt demonstrated his sensitivity to a widespread Western belief that environmental policies too often are top-down, not including input from local and state officials. For that matter, it is hoped that this agreement could provide a model for some of the other contentious environmental issues facing the West. Maybe even Western U.S. Republican senators, who have been denouncing the administration for its wildfire policies, could take a cue from their fellow Republicans in the statehouses and reach out to the Democratic administration, instead of constantly slapping its hand over conservation policies.