Mike Collins: “Look, we are here, and I am glad to hear what has come out of the Conservation and Forestry Subcommittee. I just wanted…”

“Look, we are here, and I am glad to hear what has come out of the Conservation and Forestry Subcommittee. I just wanted to talk about that because you mentioned the losses in transparency on that open book. It does that. It has been something that has passed through this House. We just passed it again last week. It really just shines the light on this access issue and the Federal government--what we end up paying sometimes for these groups to sue and what our departments are paying out. What you are talking about is a healthy management of our forests, but it is also a healthy management of our resources. We are setting forth what we need to do as priorities in Congress. As someone from northeast Georgia, with a lot of forestry land--Chattahoochee National Forest--this is something we can work together on. We are glad to be a part of that. The support that you have done and the leadership that you have given is incredible, and we want to continue to thank you for that and be a part of it. That is just part of our transparency issue we have with the Federal Government, and also these lawsuits that have been coming out, and we can do that together. I appreciate the gentleman for yielding. I want to commend him for the work that he is doing and the work of our forestries around the country.”