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Arizona's Burning as California Fire Season Approaches

As runaway fires spread over Arizona, California is looking at 8 million acres of forest designated as -high risk.- Everyone agrees on the cause, but the Bush administration and environmentalists are locked in combat over the best solution. Years of successful fire suppression have left the Sierra Nevada forests full of small trees and brush, which could provide the tinder for massive fires. The administration wants lumber companies to clear out the dead wood, along with living trees that are larger than those allowed by a so-called -framework- established during the Clinton years. Environmentalists say that spells the end of an irreplaceable natural resource. To save the forest, do we have to destroy the trees? We hear opposing views from a California environmentalist and the head of a forestry trade association. Making News: Official Tally Continues in Recall Signature Gathering It-s a big day for the effort to recall Governor Gray Davis. Both sides anxiously awaited the Secretary of State-s official announcement of how many signatures have been gathered so far. Will the recall campaign have the momentum to get on the ballot, or has it reached its peak? Paul Fiest is state-house editor for the San Francisco Chronicle. Reporter's Notebook: Dry San Bernardino Forests Ready to Go Up in Smoke The San Bernardino Mountains are tinder dry after four years of drought. Add to that a plague of bark beetles, and you-ve got a million dead trees, every one a giant potential matchstick. KCRW-s Eric Roy found that Lake Arrowhead residents are cutting down those dead trees as fast as they can in preparation for "the perfect firestorm."