Merkley: More Management Of Our Forests Is Needed

Oregon will receive more than $9.4 million dollars from the USDA to address wildfire threats in three National Forest areas.  U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley said the allocation is needed to address the risk climate change poses to the state.

“We’re going to continue to see these longer, hotter fire seasons, as long as we’re continuing to put more carbon dioxide and methane into the air.”

The USDA money will be used for prescribed fire and other forest management efforts in the Umpqua, Rogue River and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests.

“Part of the challenge is this dynamic in which we want to put out fires fast. But in doing so, we get this tremendous build-up of materials in the forest that burn and create a catastrophic fire. Which is why we need that prescribed fire and that thinning. And the places we’ve done that, it works pretty well."

Merkley this year’s historic fire season, with a record number of acres burned, is an example of why more forest management is needed; especially in areas adjacent to populated communities.

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