On the recordJuly 17, 2018
Certainly, I agree with the gentleman that hazardous fuel reduction is something that is extremely important. That is why we provide for a $30 million increase from last year's levels for hazardous fuel reduction in this bill. Second, the national forests are overgrown and prone to severe and catastrophic fires, there is no doubt about it. Colorado, for instance, has already experienced a number of these fires this year, and, certainly, our home State of California is no different. We have had a number of fires, and we have fires going on at this very moment. The timber program, which removes trees from these overgrown stands, significantly reduces the threat of catastrophic fire. We went down a path in the early 1990s that many people in the mainstream environmental movement now realize is a mistake. We have now got out of that enterprise, and a lot of these forests, unfortunately, have overgrown and have bark beetle disease, so that now becomes hazardous fuel. Unfortunately, it wasn't harvested in a responsible way earlier. Responsible harvesting of timber from the national forest is a necessary component of good forest and land management. {time} 2300 So taking money from that account is the offset that I can't support. But certainly, I do support hazardous fuel reduction, because, unfortunately, we have created a lot of it in our home State of California and throughout the West. So, unfortunately, I have to urge a ``no'' vote on this amendment.…
