Wildfires and Healthy Forests: Strategic Policy Making Under George W. Bush.

After catastrophic wildfires in 2000 and 2002, President George W. Bush framed wildfires and forest policy as a problem deserving of an immediate national response. Using a parallel strategy of legislation (the Healthy Forests Restoration Act) and administrative rulemaking, the administration successfully shifted forest policy and the implementation of USDA Forest Service projects. This paper chronicles the development of the president’s strategy, its outcomes, and the implications for the National Environmental Policy Act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]