On the recordJuly 20, 2020
When we have a natural disaster on our public lands, we have an opportunity, right after that disaster, to go in and salvage some of the timber that has fallen, some of the timber that has been affected. But there is a clock on how long we have to get that done, and so many of the processes that are in place normally, to seek approval for harvesting timber on public lands, remain in place in these natural disasters, in these times of crisis. Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will add an amendment to the rule to make in order a discussion on creating a categorical exclusion for salvage operations. Now, I know there are differences between Department of the Interior lands and Department of Agriculture lands. Former Governor of the great State of Georgia Sonny Perdue, now the Secretary of Agriculture, the lands that he is in charge of are not lands designed to be preserved; they are lands designed to be managed. It is an agricultural product that is supposed to produce timber for the American people. Even though it is a catastrophe that damages that timber, that encroaches upon the productivity of those lands, an opportunity to salvage what little may be available to be salvaged should be one that we avail ourselves of or, at the very least, should be a topic of discussion today. So, Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to help me to defeat the previous question. Let's add this amendment to the rule.…
