"We must thin our forests in America," Bush said during a visit to Summerhaven, near Tucson, where forests were devastated last year by a blaze that charred nearly 34,000 hectares (84,700 acres) and destroyed 333 homes.

"Current laws make it very difficult to expedite the thinning of forests," said Bush, giving an address on his policy relating to management of forests.

He went on to Denver, Colorado, afterwards, to attend a fundraising event for his reelection campaign next year.

"This is not a political issue, this is not a partisan issue, this is a national issue that requires consensus," he added.

Forest fires in the United States throughout last summer blackened almost three million hectares (7.4 million acres) and killed 23 firefighters.

Bush is in favor of selective cutting of undergrowth and brush to try to limit potential fires in contrast to a three decade old policy in the United States of essentially leaving US forests alone in their natural state.

Some environmental activists charge Bush's plan is aimed at giving logging businesses greater commercial access to national forests.

In Denver, he is scheduled to attend a special dinner to raise funds for his campaign to win a new term in office in November 2004.

The president will later return to his ranch in Crawford, Texas, where he is on vacation until the end of August.

TERRA.WIRE