Tom McClintock

What can we do about that?

I just want to acknowledge that and tell you how much it was appreciated from the rank and file and the general public.

My point is that the projects were actually approved, for the most part, prior to the Obama administration.

I am going to, we are going to, push a lot of resources back where they belong, out of the middle and upper management, and back on the front line.

I want the rangers to be number one, period, the best job in the world, as it should be.

I believe Pinchot's maxim was the greatest good for the greatest number of people in the long run.

There seems to be a complete disconnect between the global warming enthusiasts and the policies that they are recommending to us.

When we changed the laws that have made it virtually impossible to manage our lands, our economies have withered and our forests are dying.

We were told that this is a false choice between the economy and the environment, and I could not agree more.

If I had a subscription to and received six newspapers a day, and only threw one away, how long would it take for my house to become a fire trap? Probably about as long as the forest.

These forests are going to grow, regardless of whether we manage them or not, so we are either going to grow timber products and use them, or we are going to grow firewood.

Congressman, I can't even get to this fire on the ground.

Does it suggest also that perhaps we should expedite the salvage of fire-killed timber while it still has some value and before it begins to decay and release enormous quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere?

Well, that is exactly right. And that gets me to my next point, which is if we are facing warmer weather, and if CO2 is the culprit, doesn't that point to a greater need to keep the tree density under control?

It is hard to believe that the climate can be so precise as to know exactly the property line between the private and the public lands.

Mr. Neiman, we have received extensive testimony that private lands are in much better condition, overall, than the public lands.

Thank you very much for your testimony. And we will be happy to provide them for you, beginning right now.

For 40 years, we have experimented with laws that have proven disastrous to the health of our forests.

I don't claim to have the market cornered on good ideas. If any of my friends across the aisle... can present a better way to manage our forests... please present your ideas.

If we truly want clean air, clean water, better wildlife habitat, more biodiversity, thriving rural communities... then we will pass this bill as quickly as possible in the House.

These policies have been weighed by experience and found wanting.

The management of the public lands is our responsibility.

We managed our national forests according to well-established and time-tested forest management practices.

Our Federal forests are dying.

Our Federal forests are in grave danger.