Counties and forested communities are calling on the congress to provide them the ability to pursue the American ideal of self-reliance once more.
Would you agree that responsible treatments in our forests reduce fire severity, or mitigate insect infestation?
Don't you have a job, though, truly, to manage the forests? If they burn, there is nothing to manage.
I would really encourage you to revisit that particular portion of what you are doing, in terms of the budget requests, as we move forward.
So that responsible treatment is a positive move that we need to be making.
We are depopulating in eight of my counties. This is not a good thing.
My folks aren't saying, 'Look, we don't recognize you all have a money problem.'
But I do hope you recognize these are not just western issues.
It shouldn't be Groundhog Day every time the Forest Service goes to do a new restoration project and spending 70 percent of their budget on ...
The Forest Service itself has admitted and made the comment we are suffering now from 100 years of mismanagement of our forests.
From a management decision, shouldn't we prioritize, in tough economic times, where those dollars are really going?