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Ranking Member Stabenow Opening Statement at Business Meeting on Forest Service Budget and Forestry Reform

U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, today released the following opening statement – as prepared for delivery – at today’s business meeting to consider H.R. 2647. 

Stabenow’s statement, as prepared for delivery, follows.

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Thank you Mr. Chairman,

This Committee has a long and proud history debating and legislating on matters critical to our nation’s public and private forests. Today’s mark-up builds on that tradition, and addresses several matters of great importance.

As we all remember, the 2014 Farm Bill made major reforms to forest policy.

It strengthened the 2003 Healthy Forests Restoration Act, helping ensure that local communities have the tools and assistance they need in combating insect and disease outbreaks.

Since the bill’s enactment, Secretary Vilsack has designated over 45 million acres for expedited treatment under the new authority this Committee provided.

The Farm Bill also expanded the Good Neighbor Forestry initiative – a program that allows state foresters to do restoration work on federal lands – to all 50 states.

13 states – including my home state of Michigan – have already signed these Good Neighbor agreements with the Forest Service, with many more in the works.

So as we discuss major new reforms to forest policy, we have to remember that the reforms we made in the Farm Bill are just now being fully implemented.

The topics for discussion today – addressing wildfires and increasing the pace and scale of forest restoration – are very important and timely ones.

As we speak, there are over 100 wildfires burning across the country.

Including one in Michigan, just south of the Hiawatha National Forest in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Now many of these wildfires are in backcountry areas where the flames and smoke aren’t threatening lives and property.

But several of these wildfires are a threat because they’re in areas where homes and businesses are very close to forests.

And as communities have grown closer to forested areas, and as we’ve witnessed a warming climate and record droughts, it’s gotten harder and more expensive for us to address wildfires.

As we’ve heard in previous meetings of this Committee, the Forest Service is now routinely forced to transfer funds away from key projects like restoration and timber sales and instead must use those funds to help pay for firefighting. 

These transfers can cause what’s essentially a “stop work” order on ongoing or long-planned projects.

It’s time these transfers stop and I’m glad we’re considering policies today designed to tackle these issues.

Chairman Roberts has put forward a Chairman’s substitute that begins to address the Forest Service’s budget problems by putting an end to fire borrowing.

That’s a good thing, and I’d like to commend the Chairman for that inclusion.

Unfortunately, stopping fire borrowing only addresses half the issue when it comes to the Forest Service budget.

A comprehensive solution must also tackle the dramatic reduction in the Forest Service’s resources for non-fire activities.

As Undersecretary Bonnie told this Committee last summer, the Forest Service is now spending over half of their annual budget on wildfires; leaving few resources to prepare timber sales, maintain trails, and do all the other non-fire functions that the American public expects.

Unfortunately the bill before us falls short of addressing the second half of the issue – the steady erosion of the agency’s budget.

While I truly appreciate the hard work of Chairman Roberts and his team, as well as the spirit in which this amendment was crafted, I believe it falls short of a full solution and I will not be able to support this measure today.

As an alternative, I have filed an amendment that provides a comprehensive fix to the Forest Service budget, and also contains several provisions to promote more active management of our forested lands.

According to the parliamentarian, the Stabenow amendment would be referred to the Agriculture Committee were it to be introduced as a standalone bill. 

In addition, the provision to address the Forest Service budget in our amendment –based on the bipartisan Wildfire Disaster Funding Act – will need to be agreed to by the Budget Committee should the measure reach the floor.

I would like to thank all the Members who have authored provisions in our amendment and will look forward to calling it up and speaking in more detail at the appropriate time.

Mr. Chairman, while I’m disappointed we have not been able to come together in a bipartisan fashion at today’s meeting, I want to thank you again for turning the Committee’s attention to these important issues.  And I look forward to working with you to craft a bipartisan solution.

 

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