Western Senate Democrats are urging appropriators to designate emergency and disaster funds to restore public lands recently scorched by wildfire.
Repairing trails, roads and buildings on burned federal lands, including national parks and forests, “is vital for the safety and economies of the entire country,” the group of 10 lawmakers wrote to Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego led the letter sent Thursday. It was co-signed by Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, New Mexico Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, Oregon Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, Colorado Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet, California Sen. Adam Schiff, and Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto.
“Just as our forests and parks require restoration, so too do the surrounding counties and communities that bear the economic and infrastructure impacts of these disasters; their recovery is inseparable from that of the federal lands themselves,” the letter states.
