RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - President Bush proposes spending $760 million on tree thinning nationwide in the federal budget that takes effect Oct. 1, a substantial increase over the current year. And the debate over how much to spend for thinning already has begun.

Some critics say the president's proposal isn't enough.

The administration took money from one pocket and put it into another without adding much, according to Sen. Tim Johnson, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

And Sen. Tom Daschle said the amount in Bush's budget would only partially fund tree-thinning efforts.

This winter, firefighters, foresters, contractors and some state prisoners are cutting trees and clearing brush in the Black Hills. Officials say one-third of the 1.2 million-acre Black Hills National Forest in southwest South Dakota and northeast Wyoming is dense, diseased or otherwise at risk for major fires.

Most local, state and federal officials in the Black Hills and the timber industry want more forest thinning. And so do many of the 213 families who live in Spearfish Canyon, some of whom have complained for years that the U.S. Forest Service has been too slow to thin trees.

This winter's thinning is "the first time we've seen any real action, and that's good," said David Brueckner, a Spearfish Canyon resident.

Thinning is being done in Spearfish Canyon, south of Sturgis, west of Rapid City, south of Mount Rushmore and elsewhere in the Black Hills.

Environmental groups, however, say thinning a much smaller number of acres closer to communities would be better. And they don't like using commercial logging to thin public forests.

Trees in the Black Hills are hard-hit by drought and pine beetles. And the Black Hills, more than any other national forest, has many homes, subdivisions and other private development.

The president's spending proposal is the same amount Congress authorized in the Healthy Forest Restoration Act signed into law Dec. 3.

But South Dakota's senators don't like the way the administration has reached its $760 million figure.

Daschle, who helped negotiate the federal law, said assistance to states for "forest health management" would decrease under the president's budget.

And Johnson objected to including money in other programs in the thinning budget. "It's disappointing the White House would use such budget gimmicks," he said.

The need is for $760 million in new spending, said Jeff Olson of Rapid City, who is on the Black Hills National Forest Advisory Board.

Olson, who represents sportsmen on the board, said the search for thinning money will hurt other programs. "My fear is they're going to raid wildlife and recreation," he said.

Many factors can drive up the cost of tree thinning, according to John Twiss, Black Hills National Forest supervisor. Timber damaged by wind or snow is expensive to clear, and thinning around areas where homes meet the forest also is more expensive, he said.

The Healthy Forest Act will help by reducing paperwork and by shortening and restricting environmental appeals, said Mark Rey, U.S. Agriculture Department undersecretary for natural resources and environment.

He said 40 cents of every thinning dollar pays administrative costs. "The question is, how far can we drive that down," Rey said.

Last month, Rey and Dale Bosworth, head of the U.S. Forest Service, met with supervisors of all 124 national forests in Nebraska to tell them of the urgency of tree thinning.

"We got the message," Twiss said.

The Forest Service and Interior Department will treat about 2 million acres in this fiscal year, including 23,590 acres in the Black Hills. Next year the total rises to 4 million acres nationwide with a goal of doubling that again in about two years, Rey said.

"If we get to the point where we're treating 8 million acres a year on a consistent basis, then we'll be at a point where we can look forward to a solution to the problem in a decade or so - 10 to 15 years," he said.

AP-WS-02-16-04 1034EST