Protesters greet Bush in Portland

"The forest policy of our government is misguided policy," Bush, standing in casual clothes on a stage surrounded by potted trees, told a cheering crowd early in the day at a fairgrounds barn in Central Point, in southern Oregon.


	Protesters fill a street in downtown Portland yesterday. Several hundred people demonstrated outside the Hilton, where the president spoke at a fund-raiser for Sen. Gordon Smith. Associated Press Click for larger photo

"We need to make our forests healthy by using some common sense. We need to understand you let kindling build up and there's a lightning strike, you're going to get yourself a big fire," he said.

After years of suppressing fires across the West, it makes sense to clear brush, he said: "We just haven't done it, and we're now paying the price."

After his speech, Bush flew to Portland to raise money for the re-election campaign of U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith. There to meet the president was a crowd of protesters whom police fought in the afternoon and evening to move from an area near the Hilton, where Bush was speaking and raising $1 million for Smith. Protesters hammered on the hoods of police cars as pepper spray wafted through the air.

Earlier in the day, several hundred demonstrators marched toward the Hilton after Bush's arrival there.

Demonstrators at one point began to disperse, but many returned.

Supporters of Bush in formal attire were jostled and taunted by protesters as they arrived for the Smith fund-raiser. After elbowing their way through the crowd of demonstrators, the VIPs were checked by Secret Service agents before they were allowed inside the hotel.

A melee erupted after police ordered about 500 protesters to move from a barricaded area.

Brian Schmautz, spokesman for Portland Police Bureau, said protesters threw things at the police. "We've have had a number of items thrown at our officers over the past few hours," he said.

Riot police wearing helmets then walked into the area, pushing activists with their batons. Some activists fell. Police then fired aerosol canisters of pepper spray at the protesters.

Later in the day, about 150 demonstrators blocked vehicle access to Morrison Bridge. Cars honked their horns and police moved in, again firing pepper spray. Police arrested three protesters. A police officer injured her wrist in a fall.

Many protesters took to the streets to demonstrate against Bush's forest policy.

"My concern is that he has absolutely no morals about protecting our environment," said Joanne Marron, a teacher with a master's degree in ecology who just moved to Portland from Southern California.

But others said they were worried about a possible war with Iraq.

"I don't think any American boys' lives are worth a barrel of oil," said Rob Moitoza, 57, who carried a sign that said: "Vets Against Bush."

The full impact of Bush's policy change remains unclear until details are fleshed out, observers said.


	A protester is led away after a confrontation with police yesterday in Portland. Police used batons and pepper spray to disperse the crowds. Associated Press Click for larger photo

For example, what will happen to the Northwest Forest Plan, created in 1994 by the Clinton administration to solve years-long squabbles over the effects of logging on spotted owls in Western Washington, Western Oregon and Northern California. Although fire is not usually a major threat to communities on the wet western side of the Cascades, it appears the Bush administration is moving to authorize more logging here, said Todd True, a lawyer in the Seattle office of the Earthjustice law firm.

Elsewhere, across the drier interior West, "I don't think there is any disagreement that many parts of the West are out of whack because of decades of fire suppression," True said. "The disagreement is about where and how to solve that. The environmental community has consistently said this is a problem that needs to be addressed, and money needs to be focused on providing protection for communities."

Bush traveled from his Texas ranch to southwestern Oregon, near the California state line, for a briefing on local fires that have ravaged the area. On the way to Oregon, Air Force One passed low over the 471,000-acre Biscuit fire to give the president a view of the thick smoke from the state's largest blaze in modern history. Even when the president landed, the stink from yet another fire -- the Tiller blaze 45 miles to the north -- hung in the air.

The president was then ferried to the still-smoldering Squires Peak fire, for what his advisers billed as a firsthand look at the dramatic difference made by the kind of policies the president advocates.

After that, Bush announced at a nearby fairgrounds a plan to make it easier for timber companies to cut wood from fire-prone national forests. Several Western governors who have been pushing for just such changes came out for the event.

The Bush administration said changes are necessary to clear a decades-long buildup of highly flammable materials and lessen the risk of catastrophic burns.

"This is the second fire site I've been to this summer and it's the same story," said Bush, surrounded by dead, blackened trees and his cowboy boots covered with ash. "Had we properly managed our forests, the devastation caused would not have been nearly as severe and it's a crying shame.... What the critics need to do is come stand where I stand."

Talking with firefighters still working on piles of embers, Bush said, "You guys see what good practices mean, what bad practices mean firsthand. We're trying to bring common sense to forest policy."

Firefighter Cody Goodnough replied, "That will make our job easier."

In remarks to local and federal officials on the mountaintop, Bush criticized the past century's policy of nearly complete fire suppression as shortsighted and dangerous.

Today, Bush goes to California to headline three events expected to give Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon's campaign a much-needed $3 million boost. Another $1 million would go to the California Republican party.

The $1 million he raised for Smith in Portland marked the largest single fund-raising event in Oregon political history. Smith already has a 5-to-1 lead over Democratic challenger Bill Bradbury in fund raising.

P-I reporter Robert McClure contributed to this report.

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