Klobuchar Calls for Investment in Forest Management and Wildfire Prevention
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, delivered the following opening statement at the Committee hearing to review the Fix Our Forest Act. In her remarks, Senator Klobuchar acknowledged the importance of Congress acting on the wildfire crisis, addressed the need for increased resources and investment in forest management and wildfire prevention, and urged the Trump Administration to reconsider their proposed cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Forest Service, which oversees wildfire response efforts.
The hearing included testimony and questioning of the Acting Associate Chief of USDA Forest Service, Mr. Chris French.
A rough transcript of Senator Klobuchar’s opening statement is available below and a video can be downloaded here.
The Fix Our Forests Act, which we will be considering here today, is the first major standalone forestry bill Congress has debated in more than two decades, and I look forward to hearing your testimony. We also appreciate the bipartisan work of Senators Hickenlooper, Padilla, Curtis, and Sheehy to introduce a Senate version of the bill.
Earlier this year, wildfires raged across Los Angeles, killing dozens of people and devastating homes and businesses. This spring, wildfires threatened homes and communities in the Carolinas and Georgia. Rising temperatures, drier summers, longer wildfire seasons, and earlier snowmelt are driving these fires.
As forests depart from their historical conditions, there are growing threats across the nation. We’ve seen threats to forests in other ways, and in the last Farm Bill, I supported improvements to the Good Neighbor Authority, a bipartisan effort, and the execution of vegetation management projects to reduce wildfire risk.
Now, the size and scope of these fires and the level of need for forest restoration make it clear that we must do more to improve current tools like the Good Neighbor Authority, and we must invest more in wildfire prevention. In recent years, I've supported additional permitting flexibilities and investments in wildfire risk prevention. As a result of these laws, a record breaking 4.28 million acres were treated for wildfire last year alone.
Unfortunately, we're seeing from this Administration cuts to the Forest Service. The recently released budget proposes deep reductions in National Forest Service System funding, popular programs that strengthen state and private capacity for managing forests, and forestry research. Eliminating the successful bipartisan, Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program is something that the Fix our Forest Act seeks to improve. And the budget, sadly recommends moving wildfire operations out of the USDA Forest Service. These are concerning proposals that have an impact on lives and livelihoods.
Equally concerning, the Forest Service has reportedly lost more than 4,000 employees since January. And while many wildland firefighters have been exempted from workforce reduction initiatives, I'm concerned that many Forest Service employees with so-called “red cards” have departed the agencies. These employees are crucial.
Funding is another important consideration as the Committee discusses this important bill, the Fix Our Forest Act. In its latest update on the Wildfire Crisis Strategy implementation, the Forest Service reported that in some areas, there is more work to do than workforce capacity.
And regardless of what the USDA calls its wildfire strategy, what remains the same is the need for tree thinning and prescribed fire to occur on some acres. The new Wildfire Intelligence Center, fireshed assessments, increasing the pace and scale of forest restoration work and reforestation – all of these new authorities demand resources.
We can all agree that more active forest management is needed, but we must make sure we have the resources to do it, and we keep the employees to do it. And I just want to thank you, Mr. French, for being here. And again, we're really pleased that there's been such good work done on a bipartisan basis.
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