A House Natural Resources subcommittee this week will take up two aspects of forest management — clean water and reliable electricity — at risk in an era of worsening wildfires.
The Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries will hear testimony on efforts to step up forest thinning and related work, highlighted in the “Fix Our Forests Act,” H.R. 471, that’s awaiting further action in Congress.
The legislation — which is bipartisan thanks mainly to a Democratic push from California — would ease certain environmental reviews of forest projects aimed at removing vegetation from utility rights of way or protecting vital watersheds, among many other provisions. It passed the House and the Senate Agriculture committees last year with solid Democratic support but was still awaiting consideration in the full Senate at year’s end.
Water, Wildlife and Fisheries Subcommittee Chair Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) has blamed the wildfire crisis mainly on federal prohibitions on timber harvesting in designated roadless areas, through the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule that the Trump administration plans to repeal. The regulation blocks road construction, although the Forest Service has made exceptions from time to time and some hazardous fuels reduction is allowed.
