Newhouse Applauds Passage Of Fix Our Forests
In a bipartisan vote last week, the House of Representatives passed the Fix Our Forests Act to restore forest health and increase resiliency to catastrophic wildfires. Central Washington’s Dan Newhouse applauded the measure and said it’s an important first step in protecting the forest and fighting forest fires.
“Every summer, it seems like our valleys and our region get covered in smoke. And so, this is an effort to not only manage better but to reset how people think about the question of forest management.”
Newhouse said effective management can be a win-win for everyone across the region. He added the state of Washington should treat the forests like a crop.
"If we look at our forests more like an agricultural effort, they need pruning. It needs tending to. We just don’t put a fence around a field and expect it to grow without ever providing any attention. We need to have active forest management to reduce the catastrophic fire pressure that we see.”
Sponsored by House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman, a Republican from Arkansas, and Congressman Scott Peters, a Democrat from California, the Fix Our Forests Ac will provide agencies with critical tools to implement the most vital forest management projects immediately. In addition, this legislation:
- Simplifies and expedites environmental reviews to reduce costs and planning times for critical forest management projects while maintaining rigorous environmental standards.
- Utilizes state-of-the-art science to prioritize the treatment of forests at the highest risk of wildfire.
- Promotes federal, state, tribal, and local collaboration by creating a new Fireshed Center and codifying the Shared Stewardship initiative.
- Makes communities more resilient to wildfire by coordinating existing grant programs and incentivizing new research.
- Revitalizes rural economies by strengthening tools such as Good Neighbor Authority and Stewardship Contracting.
- Hardens utility rights-of-way against wildfire by encouraging more active management and removal of dangerous hazard trees.
Click Here to read the entire text of the proposal.
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