Congress recently approved legislation that allows logging in old-growth forests and does little to limit wildfire risks in areas close to homes. The Healthy Forests Restoration Act passed the House by a vote of 286 to 140, with the Senate following suit by voice vote. The measure, which takes its cue from President Bush’s “Healthy Forests Initiative,” allows increased commercial logging of old-growth trees in national forests, purportedly to reduce runaway forest fires that have plagued the West in recent years, even though such trees are not the source of the problem.