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[Page S1294]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO DR. WILLIAM WALLACE COVINGTON
Ms. SINEMA. Madam President, I rise today to honor the esteemed
career and public service of Dr. William Wallace Covington, who is
retiring as regents' professor of forestry at Northern Arizona
University, NAU.
As founder and director of NAU's Ecological Restoration Institute,
Dr. Covington's research has substantially contributed to our
understanding of the conditions necessary to maintain healthy forest
ecosystems. His demonstrations that selective thinning and controlled
fires may mitigate more intense, destructive fires have undoubtedly
helped save significant swathes of southwestern ponderosa pine forests,
including those found in Arizona.
Dr. Covington was recognized as an Outstanding Teaching Scholar by
NAU, and received the Biswell Lifetime Achievement Award from the
Association for Fire Ecology, has testified before both congressional
and State natural resource committees and advised a former Chief of the
U.S. Forest Service and former Secretary of the Interior. Dr.
Covington's dedication to novel research and evidence-driven outcomes
has been essential in safeguarding our communities from uncontrolled
fires.
I thank Dr. Covington for his years of dedicated work and public
service on behalf of Arizona, the Southwest, and the American people.
I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter from
Bruce Babbitt recognizing Dr. Covington.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
January 26, 2019.
Hon. Kyrsten Sinema,
U.S. Senator,
Washington, DC.
Hon. Martha McSally,
U.S. Senator,
Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Sinema and Senator McSally: I write to support
Congressional recognition of the remarkable career and public
service of Professor Wallace Covington who is retiring as
Regents Professor of Forestry at Northern Arizona University.
Professor Covington's work came to my attention back in
1993. At the Interior Department we were confronted with a
rapid increase in large, destructive fires in the western
ponderosa forest in the Southwest. In response to a proposal
from Covington, the Department dedicated an extensive forest
tract at Mt. Trumbull north of the Grand Canyon for large
scale experimentation, and we began to fund his work.
What emerged from the Mt. Trumbull experiment was a new
understanding of pre-settlement open forests that were
maintained free of dense thickets and underbrush by frequent,
low intensity natural fires. Following European settlement,
these natural forests became overly dense as a result of fire
suppression and over grazing. With so much unnatural fuel
accumulation, forest fires have become more intense,
widespread and destructive.
Covington's work at Mount Trumbull demonstrated that these
forests could be brought back to a more natural condition by
a carefully controlled process of selective thinning and the
application of low intensity prescribed fire.
Covington has since taken his academic work to the policy
level by organizing support for large scale restoration
programs. The Congress, with leadership from Senator Kyl, has
supported creation of the Ecological Restoration Institute at
Northern Arizona University and comparable centers at
Colorado State University and New Mexico Highlands
University.
This work continues today with support from local
governments and environmental groups. An example is the 4FRI
project, a twenty year restoration project across several
million acres in northern Arizona, managed by the Forest
Service with support from the Congress and a broad coalition
of state and federal agencies, local communities and
environmental organizations.
Covington's work is an outstanding example of science in
action under leadership from a dedicated public servant,
forging consensus policy changes that are now restoring
forests, and safeguarding communities from uncontrolled
wildfire.
His work and advocacy has been of inestimable benefit to
the American people.
Sincerely,
Bruce Babbitt.
____________________
