Political Quotes

“Mr. President, earlier this week I came to the Senate floor to speak about the importance of the forestry title in what is a bipartisan farm bill we are considering right now as I speak. In my previous remarks, I spoke about a growing emergency in our Nation's forests caused by the largest bark beetle outbreak in our recorded history--an outbreak that is projected to kill nearly every lodgepole pine in Colorado. I know the Presiding Officer from the neighboring State of New Mexico is experiencing these same conditions in his State. The Forest Service has estimated that 100,000 dead trees are falling in our forests every day. Hard to imagine, but their estimates are such: 100,000 trees every day. That means our landscapes are littered with tinder ready to burn, which, combined with the hot dry summer we are already experiencing, is a recipe for a disastrous fire season. Mother Nature bats last, which means much of what we face is out of our control. But we can act, and we must act, in order to manage the magnitude of the crisis in our home States. In some ways--I know the Presiding Officer sees this the same way I do--the forests in Colorado are the canaries in the coal mine that tie us into and identify the effects of a changing climate. Warmer temperatures and drought conditions have exacerbated beetle infestations in our forests, and we are now dealing with an unprecedented combination of explosive fire season events.…”