03/08/05 The drought concern; E.P.A.`s new boss

The hope that there will be a late winter surge of moisture, whether it is lots of snow or rain, is beginning to diminish as spring has shown up, not in calendar measurement but the type of weather experienced in much of the region this past week. What that means is the Northwest is growing closer to having a potential drought on its hands. Oregon reported the fourth driest February on record with snow packs statewide down about thirty five per cent of normal. Washington's snow pack is twenty seven per cent of normal. And the records for dry hit the charts last month, with cities reporting some of their driest Februarys ever, headed by Spokane with its driest February on record. And if this low precipitation continues as expected by meteorologists, then it may be only a matter of time before Northwest states ask the federal government for a federal disaster declaration due to drought. The long vacant Environmental Protection Agency's Administrator position will soon be filled. But it will not be filled by Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne. Kempthorne's name had come up again for the post last winter when former E.P.A. Administrator Mike Leavitt switched Cabinet positions to serve the Bush Administration as Director of Health and Human Services. But the President has announced his nomination as head of the E.P.A &. the Interim Administrator, Stephen Johnson. Johnson's background as a career scientist has made him a favorite of not only agriculture and farm chemical groups, but of several environmental groups as well. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. ALLEN: Members of the Lewis and Clark expedition of the early 1800's, described passing through Western forests that appeared like parks on European estates & acres of wildflowers and native grasses dotted with magnificent trees. Meriwether Lewis would not recognize our Western forests today. Instead of 20 trees per acre there is now up to a thousand, creating a tinderbox of stunted trees and underbrush. Two hundred years ago, a wild fire would routinely consume the under growth leaving large trees standing. Today trees explode like fire bombs, destroying forests for generations. These conditions are why the USDA Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment, Mark Rey believes the Healthy Forest Initiative is needed now more than ever. A century of mismanagement has cumulated in catastrophic wild fires and Rey contends the problem of too much fuel in forests will not be a quick fix and could take a decade or more to reduce fuels. I'm Susan Allen and this has been Food Forethought.