House Bill 9181

    Florida House of Representatives - 1999                HR 9181

        By Representative Wiles






  1                         House Resolution

  2         A resolution designating "Wildfire Awareness

  3         Week."

  4

  5         WHEREAS, public and private forests and other wildlands

  6  make up more than two-thirds of Florida's land area, and

  7         WHEREAS, trees are nature's irreplaceable natural

  8  factory for oxygen and provide clean air, clean water, noise

  9  abatement, wildlife habitat, and water-shed protection, and

10         WHEREAS, millions of people enjoy such diverse

11  activities as hunting, birdwatching, canoeing, fishing,

12  cycling, horseback riding, swimming, camping, and hiking in

13  Florida's forests each year, and

14         WHEREAS, Florida's forests provide to Florida's

15  citizens a renewable bounty of over 5,000 different wood

16  products, 132,000 jobs, and a $9 billion economic benefit, and

17         WHEREAS, thousands of families are choosing these

18  natural areas for building their homes, thereby creating a

19  wildland-urban interface, and

20         WHEREAS, wildfire is a major threat to this valuable

21  resource and to the families residing in woodland settings,

22  and

23         WHEREAS, wildfires damage thousands of acres of

24  wildland annually, NOW, THEREFORE,

25

26  Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of

27  Florida:

28

29         That the House of Representatives hereby designates the

30  second week of April 1999, and the same week in each

31  succeeding year, as "Wildfire Awareness Week."

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