Bruce Babbitt Quotes

"It's a very tough situation, ... We've got two, three more weeks, maybe a month of fire season, and the weather prognosis is not very good."

"Every successful prescribed fire is a blow for safety in surrounding communities and for forest health. These forests are made safer by periodic fires -- a natural part of the evolution, growth and maintenance of healthy forests,"

"I'm a student of conservation history and what I see are cycles, ... The trend over time has been a broader level of conservation and concern. But there are peaks and valleys. We had tremendous environmental activism under Theodore Roosevelt, then went through a drought in the '20s. We had another resurgence in conservation interest in the '30s, hit a lull in the '50s, then had a highly active period in the '60s and '70s. We're in one of those down periods again, but I'm as certain as I can be that we're getting to the end of this period and headed toward a new era of conservation and concern."

"With those mistakes embedded in it, the process began with the agency and participants behind the curve."

"Stewart Udall, more than any other single person, was responsible for reviving the national commitment to conservation and environmental preservation."

"In the spirit of the Christmas season I'm delivering a gift to the mining industry,"

"Barry Goldwater and the Grand Canyon stand together; both unique, both monumental, both among the very best of God's creation. And I believe Barry Morris Goldwater will be remembered as long as each morning the sun continues to rise over the Grand Canyon,"

"The creation of the Grand Staircase was a major chapter in the history of our public lands,"

"The notion that big business and big labor and big government can sit down around a table somewhere and work out the direction of the American economy is at complete variance with the reality of where the American economy is headed. I mean, it's like dinosaurs gathering to talk about the evolution of a new generation of mammals."

"The causal chain of this fire is quite complex, ... I would liken it to what happens on a mountainside when a rock is dislodged, starts rolling down a hill, pretty soon there are more rocks clattering down the hill ... soon there's an avalanche."

"As deeply as gold or the grizzly bear, wild salmon infuse California's past, ... But through our collective will, today we help ensure that salmon swim on into our future. For they are not merely commodities, or emblems for a flag. Wild salmon are vital members of creation who enrich our landscapes, inspiring us through their upstream journey from sea to Sierra."

"I think what he will be remembered for most in history is the way he connected with regular people and brought the mystery and beauty of oceans into our personal lives,"

"It's clear that there were large mistakes of agency oversight. Lessons must be learned from this."

"Mistakes began with the preparation of the prescribed fire plan, ... Had those calculations been properly done, there would have been a larger background personnel and support (team on hand)."

"In recent years the Forest Service and land management agencies have been burning about 2 to 2 1/2 million acres a year with prescribed fires,"

"We have no choice but to manage these forests to get the fuel loads down. We can't abandon this program. What we've got to do instead is to correct the mistakes,"

"Cities in the Wilderness: A New Vision of Land Use in America."

"You fought the good fight. You were in it right up to the beginning."

"If that's not a national problem, what is? ... And all we get from our national leaders is silence and evasion."

"Had those calculations been properly done there would have been a larger background personnel and support, ... With those mistakes embedded in it, the process began with the (Forest Service) agency and participants behind the curve."