The Healthy Forests Initiative to thin out and remove brush and limbs which can contribute to the spread of catastrophic wildfires was another ambitious legislative effort by the President. Even though this bill received overwhelming support from many Democrats, it was considered a "sellout" to timber interests and opposed by most environmental groups. This hostility perplexed even liberal Senator Diane Feinstein who quipped "This legislation is not a logging bill, as some [environmentalists] would typify it - I think falsely. This legislation would provide the first statutory protection for old-growth stands and large trees ever in the history of this Nation."
There are, of course, some other Bush initiatives that are also worthy of praise: The strategy to restore and create at least one million acres of wetlands, the Administration's effort to increase the number of bobwhite quail by 750,000 birds annually, and the more than $600 million that will be spent to recover Columbia River Salmon are just some that come to mind. But it's unlikely any environmental initiative by this President will be able to prevent noses from being turned upward. Even the Administration's willingness to increase funding to environmental groups from $72 million to over $143 million annually hasn't bought it any friends.
