Signed in 2003, the law was designed to expedite the decision-making process for protecting communities from forest fires, but the environmental groups accuse forest administrators of using it to do more.
 

"They've misused the rule, and I'd say they're abusing it," said Bryan Bird, forest program coordinator for Forest Guardians. "They take advantage of the parts of the rule that give them the advantage and avoid the parts that give the public the advantage. They can't play that game."
Part of the controversy centers around the decision by forest administrators to include some large trees in clearing potential fuel for fires near Duck Creek Village, a cabin community about 30 miles east of Cedar City.
 

District Ranger Dayle Flanigan said the forest is only clearing those trees that aren't fire-resistant, and that just 5,653 acres — about half — will be subject to thinning methods that would include the felling of some large trees.
"We need to thin out this forest," he said. "It has not had the natural cycles of fire for a long time, so we're moving to reduce the landscape scale."
 

But Bird said he disagrees that large trees should be part of the solution, and accused administrators of throwing the big trees into the deal to "sweeten the pot" for logging companies that may do much of the clearing work.
"The large trees issue is a lightning rod for controversy," he said. "This should be about protecting communities."
 

Another accusation from the environmental groups is that the forest used the Healthy Forest Restoration Act to stifle public dis- cussion of the matter. They said after four years of playing by the old rules, including extensive community discussions, forest administrators decided the issue fell under the new act, which makes it easier for them to make quick decisions.
"They decided they would shuttle this one through using the president's new rules," Bird said. "And quite frankly, it's shocking to have them do this at the last second."
 

But Flanigan said they involved the public through the whole pro- cess, and that switching to the new rules was about doing what the law was designed to do — move the process along and protect com- munities.
 

Finally, the groups are saying the depth of the project, going out to a mile and a half from the community, is more than what is needed. Bird said "defensible space," or safe distance from risky areas, is about half a mile. Once that area is thinned and communities are safe, he said, natural fires can be reintroduced to the forest to clean things up in a more economical way.
 

But Flanigan pointed to fires in Southern California as evidence for larger buffer areas.
 

Despite the disagreements, Flanigan said compromise is possible. He said the objection would go to the forest's regional office, which might recommend changes to the plan. That process could take 30 days. And if no changes are made, the environmental groups could turn to litigation.
Meantime, Flanigan said while forest administrators are taking the objection seriously, they also hope decisions can be made quickly.
 

"We are concerned that they object and disagree with our proposals," he said. "But we're also very concerned that the objections are going to inhibit our ability to reduce the fuels (to protect the community.)"
But Kevin Mueller from the Utah Environmental Congress said abundant rain and snowpack this year minimizes the danger of forest fires and gives the issue some breathing room.

E-mail: dhinckley@desnews.com