Today, Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Doug LaMalfa (CA-01) and House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (AR-04) released the following statements on the re-introduction of Chairman Westerman’s Fix Our Forests Act.
“As wildfires rage across my home state of California, the need for proactive forest management to reduce wildfire risk has never been more urgent,” said Chairman LaMalfa. “The Fix Our Forests Act will implement important measures to reduce bureaucracy and unnecessary lawsuits that are roadblocks to both good forestry projects and healthy forests. I look forward to working with Chairman Westerman and Western Caucus members to pass this important legislation soon.”
“As tragic wildfires rage in Los Angeles, we're working in Washington to help prevent these types of catastrophes in the future with the Fix Our Forests Act,” said Chairman Westerman. “It's time to take an all-hands-on-deck approach and use proven science to restore our forests to a healthy state and protect communities in the wildland-urban interface from wildfires. This legislation will leave our nation's forests more resilient and ensure they can be responsibly enjoyed and managed for generations to come.”
Background:
The Fix Our Forests Act will:
Simplify and expedite environmental reviews for forest management projects without reducing environmental standards.
End needless delays to forest management activities by stopping senseless litigation.
Promote collaboration between federal, state, tribal and local officials, and innovative technologies to better actively manage forests.
The Fix Our Forests Act passed the House in the 118th Congress by a bipartisan vote of 268-151.
