Fix Our Forests Act
Floor Speech
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Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, I rise as the designee for the gentleman from Montana (Mr. Zinke).
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Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, I rise today to offer the amendment on behalf of my friend from Montana, Representative Zinke, which will improve the effectiveness of the Good Neighbor Authority.
The Good Neighbor Authority program enables cross-boundary forest management activities with States, Tribes, and counties. Collaborative tools like this program are critical to confronting the wildfire crisis as raging wildfires don't respect man-made borders that separate forests into different jurisdictions.
Since 2014, over 490 Good Neighbor Authority projects have been started in 34 States, and more than 273 million board feet of timber is sold yearly through this program.
Currently, funds from the sale of timber from Good Neighbor Authority projects can be used to treat insect-and disease-infested trees, reduce hazardous fuels, improve forest health, and restore and repair decommissioned Forest Service roads necessary to implement restoration activities.
This amendment would expand the permissible uses of timber receipts derived from Good Neighbor Authority projects to include the reconstruction, repair, and restoration of roads on non-Forest Service lands when such activities are needed to implement forest management projects on Federal land.
New road construction on Federal lands would also be a permitted use under this amendment to facilitate authorized restoration projects. However, these new road projects would still be required to comply with the applicable environmental review processes.
Further, this amendment would allow timber receipts to be used to construct new roads to replace existing roads that adversely impact forest, rangeland, or watershed health.
Access to areas urgently needing treatment remains a huge challenge to improving forest health. Roads are beneficial for forest management, provide the public with access to outdoor recreation opportunities, and enable safer and more effective wildland firefighting.
This thoughtful amendment from Representative Zinke will improve forest management activities under Good Neighbor Authority by empowering partners to overcome some of the access challenges preventing badly needed work in our forests.
Mr. Chair, I thank Representative Zinke for his leadership on this issue.
Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Westerman).
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Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, I rise to offer my amendment that clarifies existing authorities may be utilized to prevent wildfires in Fire Regimes IV and V, thereby expanding the acres of at-risk forests that would be eligible for streamlined management authorities.
This important amendment is critical to fire mitigation efforts across the States of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York, Maine, West Virginia, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Missouri, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana, Ohio, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Virginia, North Carolina, Iowa, Florida, and Texas.
The Forest Service estimates 63 million acres are currently at risk of catastrophic wildfire, and each year, nearly 10 million acres in the U.S. catch on fire. Colorado also had the three largest recorded wildfires in State history in 2020.
Federal agencies have chosen to spend billions on the back end, putting out wildfires as opposed to prioritizing active management upfront that would reduce the size and number of wildfires.
According to the Colorado State Forest Service, more than 24.4 million acres of Colorado forestland impact Colorado's water supply, where 80 percent of the State's population relies on those forested watersheds for municipal water supplies.
Healthy forests act as a natural water filter and storage system and are critical to maintaining healthy watersheds. In the United States, forests are a source of drinking water for over 180 million people.
We can reduce the size and severity of wildfires through active forest management, which will also help protect our watersheds and municipal water supplies.
Let's actively manage our forests, be good stewards of the land that we have been blessed with, and pass this important amendment.
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Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, I seem to recall just yesterday that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle had no problem meddling in NEPA to get their leftwing projects through CHIPS authorized.
Mr. Chair, I would like to just highlight the drought that has caused these catastrophic wildfires.
Mr. Chair, I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Westerman).
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Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, the proposal of utilizing existing authorities to prevent wildfires in Fire Regimes IV and V is crucial as it focuses on proactive management and streamlining of forest health.
As someone who prioritizes humans flourishing, I see the value in taking measures that can prevent environmental disasters that have devastating impacts on human beings and their property.
It is important to remember that we have the power to shape our environment and neutralize dangers through human innovation powered by cost-effective energy. In the case of wildfire prevention, this could mean better forest management practices, controlled burns to reduce fuel load, and advanced fire detection and suppression technologies.
Again, Mr. Chair, I would urge the adoption of my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, I rise to offer my amendment that will ensure grazing as one of the hazardous fuels reduction activities authorized by the bill.
Our Federal lands are overgrown and poorly managed, making them more susceptible to wildfire and disease. Catastrophic wildfires have taken a tremendous toll on Coloradans. These incidents have threatened the lives of millions of people and accounted for millions of dollars of damages each year.
Farmers and ranchers have lost crops, livestock, and structures, have been evacuated, and had their operations disrupted by smoke, public safety power shutoffs, or loss of insurance.
There are Federal lands in Colorado and the West where we once had 50 to 100 trees per acre, but now we see 500 to 1,000 trees per acre. There are also 6 billion standing dead trees in the Western United States. Some people call that a problem. I call it a tinderbox waiting to burn.
Fuel treatments are effective, and Federal agencies have made clear that over 90 percent of the fuel treatments are effective in changing fire behavior and/or helping with the control of wildfire.
Grazing animals play an important part in maintaining healthy ecosystems by controlling the ecological balance of vegetative species, reducing fire fuels that result from the accumulation of nonnative plant biomass, and improving the soil health by trampling plant residue and their own waste into the soil profile.
Cattle, sheep, and goats can play a regenerative wildfire mitigation role that also provides for our food and fiber needs.
Let's support our Nation's ranchers and encourage innovative and cost-effective hazardous fuel reductions like grazing.
I urge passage of my amendment that ensures the grazing activities are recognized as hazardous fuels reduction work when the agency calculates the number of acres treated to reduce hazardous fuels, improving transparency and accountability.
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Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, I thank the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee for supporting this important amendment that supports our farmers and ranchers back home and reduces the hazardous fuels by allowing grazing to take place on our public lands.
Again, I urge adoption of this amendment.
Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, I rise to offer my amendment that will require regional foresters to submit a plan through the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program for the treatment and removal of trees killed by or infested with bark beetles in Western States.
The bark beetle epidemic has caused significant damage to roughly 100,000 square miles of forest in the Western United States alone. There are 600 different species of bark beetles in the United States. Several species, such as the mountain pine beetle, attack and kill live trees. Most species of bark beetles live in dead, weakened, or dying hosts.
Along the West Coast and through the Rocky Mountains, bark beetles have affected tens of millions of acres of forests. While bark beetles are native to U.S. forests and play important ecological roles, they can cause extensive tree mortality and negative economic and social impacts.
Spruce beetles have killed millions of trees on more than 1.8 million acres in Colorado since 2000 and provided increased fuels for wildfires. In Colorado, 2021 was one of the worst wildfire seasons our State has ever endured with the three largest fires in State history.
Bark beetle epidemics and catastrophic wildfires are a significant threat. This can be minimized by thinning overgrown forests and removing hazardous fuels produced by beetle overpopulation. This process is sure to create jobs and increase overall forest health.
I urge passage of my amendment that would prioritize Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program activities that address the bark beetle epidemic, a major contributor to wildfires in Colorado and the West.
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Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, let the beetle battle begin. The bark kill epidemic in Colorado and the western United States is a problem that we must address. I drive by these dying forests on a regular basis, and seeing the tinderbox that it has created is a huge devastation.
The carbon emissions that are released from a catastrophic wildfire are very harmful and impactful to my State of Colorado and the West, so I say it is time to do something about the beetle kill, beetle kill, beetle kill.
Mr. Chair, I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Westerman), the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.
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Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, I rise today to offer my amendment that requires regional foresters to submit a plan on the sale of Christmas trees and firewood on Federal land.
Under current law, American families can purchase a permit from the Forest Service to cut Christmas trees from their favorite national forest, as well as harvest any firewood, transplants, posts, and poles, and other forest products to improve forest health.
We have seen successful Christmas tree and firewood harvesting operations in my home State of Colorado, and this program has served as a locally based solution to help thin our overgrown forests.
According to the Forest Service: ``The permit system helps to thin densely populated stands of small-diameter trees. Local forest health experts identify areas that benefit from thinning trees and tend to be the perfect size for Christmas trees. Removing these trees in designated areas helps other trees grow larger and can open areas that provide food for wildlife.''
My constituents are struggling right now as they deal with the disastrous effects of the Democrats' destructive economic policies. They unleashed record inflation on Americans that has raised utility bills, driven up energy costs, and made it harder to live for most Americans.
My amendment provides an affordable fuel alternative for families across the Nation to heat their homes as well as create lasting holiday memories for families to interact with their local forests.
I urge my colleagues to support my commonsense amendment to prioritize collaborative foster landscape restoration program activities to allow for the removal of firewood and Christmas trees.
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Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, it is so sad to hear my colleagues on the other side of the aisle hate Christmas.
This would allow restoration of our forests. As I said, our forests are overgrown. This would allow a fun way for families to participate in healthy forest management by thinning some of the living trees that are overgrown on our forestland.
Mr. Chair, I, again, urge the adoption of this amendment.
Mr. Chair, I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Westerman).
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Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, this legislative proposal is an excellent example of how local solutions can make a big difference in managing our environment and mitigating risk. The success of Christmas tree and firewood harvesting operations in Colorado are a testament to the power of human ingenuity when it is coupled with a deep understanding of local environments and needs. These operations help to thin overgrown forests, reducing the fuel load and therefore the risk of uncontrollable wildfires. They also provide valuable resources to the local communities turning what could be a negative, overgrown forests, into a positive, holiday trees and firewood for heating.
Mr. Chair, I urge adoption of the amendment in the spirit of Christmas and heating homes efficiently, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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