This week the House of Representatives voted to improve our national forests with The Resilient Federal Forests Act. This bipartisan bill helps the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service provide more efficient land management while protecting the environment.
Our district is rich with natural resources, and one of the most abundant is timber. In southeast and southern Missouri, we manufacture everything from railroad ties and telephone poles, to cabinets and wine barrels. But radical environmentalists have made timber production difficult, ironically to the detriment of our forests. Right now, timber harvests are so low that trees are dying before they can be cut down. When a tree dies, the wood eventually loses all economic value and poses a severe fire hazard. The Resilient Federal Forests Act, passed this week, will make harvesting easier and contribute to jobs, local economies, and the health of the forest.
Previously, if industry wanted to harvest timber, radical environmental groups could come in, sue the Forest Service, and end up delaying local management plans. With this bill, environmental groups trying to cause disastrous delays with frivolous lawsuits are required to pay the legal fees of the Forest Service any time they lose a case. There were 1,125 lawsuits filed against the Forest Service between 1989 and 2008, and that serial litigation significantly impacts Missouri’s 396 sawmills and log brokers.
The bill also improves habitats for wildlife like turkey and deer by streamlining project planning and giving the Forest Service more flexibility in managing the land. It allows for more local control, and it accelerates the rehabilitation of areas impacted by wildfires.
Finally, this bill expands how Secure Rural Schools funding may be used. Firefighting is added to the education and public safety projects already allowed under Secure Rural Schools funding. Our counties depend on this funding to make up for the short coming in timber production on federal land. Before radical environmentalists made timber production difficult, a portion of the timber sales harvested on federal lands were given to the forest’s home county. Expanding the types of expenses the funding can cover gives counties more flexibility to address local needs.
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