The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“TRIBUTE TO DR. WILLIAM WALLACE COVINGTON” mentioning the Department of Interior was published in the Senate section on pages S1294 on March 3, 2020.
The Department oversees more than 500 million acres of land. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, said the department has contributed to a growing water crisis and holds many lands which could be better managed.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
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.
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