U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today sent a letter to U.S. Forest Service Chief Thomas Tidwell expressing concern about the slow pace of wildfire prevention efforts in Arizona. In the letter, Senator McCain identifies one Forest Service contractor in particular, Good Earth Power Arizona (GEPAZ), which has only thinned 8,332 acres despite being halfway through its ten-year forest stewardship contract, according to Forest Service data.
“GEPAZ is now 5 years into its contract but has treated only 8,332 acres out of the total 58,731 acres awarded to it since 2012,” writes Senator McCain.
The senator calls the progress “profoundly disappointing” and warns that it “subjects large swaths of my state to an excessive risk of catastrophic wildfire.”
Senator McCain’s letter asks the Forest Service for feedback on a number of options that could accelerate forest restoration work, including terminating the existing contract with GEPAZ and issuing a new request for proposals (RFPs) for stewardship contracting in northern Arizona.
The Forest Service awarded a forest stewardship contract to Good Earth Power to conduct forest thinning in northern Arizona under the agency’s Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI). The company said it would turn the harvested wood product into biofuel. The stated goal of 4FRI is to mechanically treat more than 300,000 acres of federal land in Arizona to reduce wildfire risk.
From Prescott eNews: https://www.prescottenews.com/index.php/news/current-news/item/29666-mccain-concerned-about-slow-pace-of-wildfire-prevention-efforts