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Concerned re management of national forests |
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April 24, 2015 |
April 24, 2015
To the Editor,
As many of us in Idaho know firsthand, poor
management of our national forests has
devastated forest health and rural economies.
On Thursday, the consequences were highlighted
for a national audience at a hearing of the
Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands,
of which I am a member.
The U.S. Forest Service says 30 percent of the
nation’s national forests are at high risk for
catastrophic wildfire – 58 million of the 193
million acres in the National Forest System.
That’s an area larger than Idaho.
Wildfire’s impacts on water quality, wildlife
and property are significant. Worst of all are
the lives lost: In the last 20 years, there have
been 348 wildfire-related fatalities in the U.S.
Increased fire risk is no coincidence, as the
last 20 years have seen a steep drop in timber
harvests and a dangerous rise in fuel loads.
Between the mid-1950s and mid-1990s, the harvest
on national forests averaged between 10- and
12-billion-board-feet annually. During that
time, an average of 3.6 million acres burned
annually.
Since 1996, timber harvest has fallen to between
1.5- and 3.3-billion-board-feet, while the
number of acres burned has nearly doubled to 6
million acres.
I was struck by the testimony of Philip Rigdon
of the Yakama Nation’s Department of Natural
Resources.
Tribal forests comply with the same
environmental laws, but fires on tribal lands
are smaller and less costly to fight. Rigdon
said wildfires spreading from unhealthy federal
forests threaten tribal land, as well as harm
hunting and fishing across the landscape.
He also showed a photo of tribal-managed forest
adjoining Forest Service land with tribal land
in far better shape. I’ve seen a similar pattern
in Idaho, comparing state lands to federal
forests.
At Thursday’s hearing, Subcommittee Chairman Tom
McClintock, R-California, noted that he speaks
to Forest Service managers frustrated by legal
and administrative roadblocks to good
management. I’ve heard the same thing in Idaho.
There are solutions, starting with active
management, more harvest, more thinning and
efficient salvage after fire.
Last year, the House passed my Self-Sufficient
Community Lands Act, which will allow states to
manage some federal forest land and show they
can do a superior job. I’ll be reintroducing
that bill this Congress.
Americans deserve healthy forests. I will
continue working with Congressman McClintock and
Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop,
R-Utah, on reforms to improve management,
mitigate fire risk and prudently use our
God-given natural resources.
Thank you,
Raúl Labrador
Congressman, First District of Idaho |
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