I’m Steve Ember with the
VOA Special English Agriculture
Report.
The Forest Service is responsible
for the forests on public lands
in the United States. It supervises
almost seventy-eight million hectares
of forests, grasslands, rivers
and lakes. It is an agency of
the Department of Agriculture.
Forest Service officials say there
are four major threats to forests
and wild lands in America.
The first is the threat of fire
and fuel. This year, forest fires
have burned more than three million
hectares of land. That is almost
two times as much as the ten-year
average.
Fires are a natural part of forest
growth, but they can also threaten
lives and property.
Fuel is dead plant material and
small plants that grow under tall
trees. As much as forty-nine metric
tons of fuel can build up on every
hectare of forest floor.
The Forest Service estimates that
up to one-fourth of the forests
it supervises have dangerous levels
of fuel. Sometimes foresters set
controlled fires to remove the
fuel. Other times the fuel must
be cleared by hand.
Another threat to forests is from
invasive species. These are non-native
plants and animals that push out
native kinds. They can cause a
lot of economic damage. Some invaders
are insects like the Asian longhorn
beetle. Some are diseases like
white pine blister rust. Others
are plants like the fast-growing
kudzu vine.
The Foreign Service has hundreds
of experts who try to develop
ways to deal with invasive species.
The agency says another threat
to the health of wild lands is
the loss of open space. It says
over one hectare of forest or
grassland is lost to development
every minute.
Development also leads to the
division of large natural areas
into smaller ones. Many animals
need wide open spaces. Also, building
near wild lands increases the
risk to homes from forest fires.
The fourth threat to public lands
is what the Forest Service calls
unmanaged recreation. People can
hunt, fish and camp in many national
forests. But careless use of motor
vehicles and other actions can
be destructive.
On November second, the Forest
Service released a new rule on
the use of motor vehicles on public
lands. The rule requires each
national forest to identify roads
and paths that are open to motor
vehicles. Vehicles will be banned
from other areas. The ban, however,
will not affect snowmobiles.
This VOA Special English Agriculture
Report was written by Mario Ritter.
Our reports are online at voaspecialenglish.com.
I'm Steve Ember.
