WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Dan Newhouse (WA-04) released the following statement upon passage of the Fix Our Forests Act in the United States House of Representatives.
“This legislation delivers a much-needed revitalization to the way we approach forest health and prevent wildfires, an issue Central Washington is all too familiar with,” said Rep. Newhouse.
“It enhances our abilities to prevent catastrophic wildfires, loosens the grip of the federal government on forest managers, all while cutting costs for projects and upholding common-sense conservation standards.”
This comprehensive, bipartisan legislation restores forest health, increases resiliency to catastrophic wildfires, and protects communities by expediting environmental analyses, reducing frivolous lawsuits, and increasing the pace and scale of forest restoration projects.
This legislation:
- Simplifies and expedites environmental reviews to reduce costs and planning times for critical forest management projects while maintaining rigorous environmental standards.
- Utilizes state-of-the-art science to prioritize the treatment of forests at the highest risk of wildfire.
- Promotes federal, state, tribal, and local collaboration by creating a new Fireshed Center and codifying the Shared Stewardship initiative.
- Makes communities more resilient to wildfire by coordinating existing grant programs and incentivizing new research.
- Revitalizes rural economies by strengthening tools such as Good Neighbor Authority and Stewardship Contracting.
- Hardens utility rights-of-way against wildfire by encouraging more active management and removal of dangerous hazard trees.
Full bill text can be found here.
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