Two bills that would attempt to reduce fire danger in Arizona forests have advanced in the Senate Natural Resources and Transportation Committee.

One bill, H2549, would offer an array of tax credits to companies that remove dead trees and undergrowth in forests and convert the material to fuel. Tax breaks also would go to companies that hire more than half of their employees from the communities in which the businesses operate.

The other bill, H2127, would give municipalities and counties the authority to require property owners in forested areas to remove excessive vegetation around their properties to reduce fire danger.

Sen. Marilyn Jarrett, R-19 and a sponsor of H2549, said the incentives in the bill are needed to create uses for the byproducts of clearing the forests. Likewise, the tax breaks really won’t cost the state anything, because there aren’t any businesses in the state now making use of the forest byproducts.

Sandy Bahr, conservation outreach director for the Grand Canyon chapter of the Sierra Club, said H2549 contains no provisions on what kinds of material may be removed from the forests. The Sierra Club supports the removal of trees under 12 inches in diameter as a way to reduce the threat of the rapid spread of fire, but H2549 doesn’t guarantee larger trees won’t end up being cut.

Ms. Bahr said she would prefer top see efforts made to reduce fire danger in the “wildland-urban interface” — those areas where houses and communities meet the forests.

Those areas are the main focus of H2127, sponsored by Rep. Tom O’Halleran, R-1. Mr. O’Halleran said his measure and H2549 aren’t necessarily in conflict with one another, but that the effects of his bill would be more immediate, while those of H2549 could take years to realize.

Lawmaker Concerned With Private Property Rights

Sen. Robert Blendu, R-12, said he is concerned the O’Halleran bill would infringe on private property rights.

“If I’m a private property owner, some bonehead with a clipboard shows up and says, ‘You’ve got to trim all these trees here on your nickel,’” Mr. Blendu said.

Bas Aja, lobbying for the Arizona Cattlemen’s Association, also objected to H2127, who said the provisions are sufficiently broad that local officials could decide crops grown near houses and communities could be a fire danger and subsequently order them destroyed at the cost of the farmer.

But Jim Paxon, a former U.S. Forest Service employee, said he backs passage of H2127 because “People need to be reminded of their personal responsibility to their neighbors.”

Governor Wants Info On Tax Breaks

Governor Napolitano in her weekly media briefing said she isn’t necessarily opposed to tax credits in general, but she has additional questions that need to be answered regarding H2549.

“What is it [a tax credit] for, how much, who will be incentivized and so for forth,” Ms. Napolitano said.

The governor also said that H2549 and H2127 don’t necessarily conflict with one another.

“We need to do as much as we can to restore our forests to health, and if there is an agreement that can be reached for both bills, both bills need to move forward,” Ms. Napolitano said.

The Natural Resources and Transportation Committee approved both bills 7-0 on April 6. —

Staff writer Phil Riske contributed to this story.