Doug LaMalfa

I appreciate being able to sit in on the committee today, on this extremely important topic towards [inaudible] I think, especially for California and California agriculture.

I want to be sure that we all have flexibility in ongoing programs.

Through these voluntary programs, producers can improve soil health and water quality, better manage their lands, and incorporate innovations like increased energy-efficient farming practices.

To my neighbor, Mr. Johansson there, California Farm Bureau, thank you for your testimony today and for your good work.

We have been trying them all for 90 years.

The 2018 Farm Bill offered important environmental and resource benefits through USDA's suite of voluntary incentive-based conservation programs.

Yes, great point on that at the end there with people around here don't understand why we have the funds like Secure Rural Schools that make up for the forestry that used to cause timber receipts to help keep local schools and local county…

I think it is very important to recognize the great conservation work farmers, ranchers, and foresters are already doing each and every day, and they don't always get credit for what has been done in the past before this became such a hot…

stop spending until you have a plan, because they didn't have a plan for the route, how they were going to line up the property.

They still don't have the property, and this is 12 years after it passed, and they are way behind on all their deadlines.

What can we do better to allay some of the concerns of the Tribes that are on the route there?

I am not against the concept, and I think the Northeast Corridor is our best chance for success on that and other areas.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority knows nothing about honesty, reliability, integrity, or keeping commitments.

grazing is a very important tool not only to keep their livestock going, but it actually helps with the fire, helps suppress the fire.

Can we get a greater commitment to this as an effective tool? There are those that don't want to cut trees, there are those that don't want to have prescribed burns. This seems like a win-win to me. Can we get a bigger push for this?

If we want to have a state of readiness, there is so much private equipment--I drove past some in Siskiyou County today.

We must change our land management practices if we expect the West to survive.

Why are we seeing a downward trend in this when this is a very effective tool?

We know it works. It reduces the fire fuels down there.

That is nature's way, and we respect that, but if we have the hybrid of mankind helping out, using nature's tools, using what the Native Americans used to use, we can have a winning equation here, and that is what we really need.

We need a really concerted effort to do that.

We won't quit. We need to get tougher and stronger.

It's time for Congress to weigh in here in favor of actively managing unreserved lands.

The wildfires that came in the late summer of the 2020 Fire Season have created unprecedented challenges for our public and private forest landowners.

It is extremely important.