WALLY HERGER: “Much of our national forests in the West are sick and dying. Drought, disease, insects, and fire are killing our forest…”

“Much of our national forests in the West are sick and dying. Drought, disease, insects, and fire are killing our forest in epidemic proportions. Some forests are already 60 and 70 percent dead. We must restore the health of our forests before it is too late. The best way to do this is to remove the source of sickness as soon as possible. Insects and disease cannot kill living trees if we remove the infested trees from the forest. Dead brittle trees cannot become the kindling for wildfire if we extract them from overstocked timber stands. Mr. Speaker, if we really want to preserve our forests, then we must act now. The Taylor-Dicks emergency timber salvage amendment to the supplemental appropriations bill before the House this week will curb the death cycle in our forest. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this crucially important amendment.”