Denny Rehberg: “if I may in conclusion to the chairman of the Committee on Agriculture just say very quickly that as I travel around the…”

“if I may in conclusion to the chairman of the Committee on Agriculture just say very quickly that as I travel around the State of Montana and this country, I know and I talk to people about the fact that Federal properties in Montana, which I represent, are owned by the taxpayers. I understand that. And so when I ask them a question, what do you want to see from your forests, they usually tell me, I want to see healthy wildlife. Okay. I can accept that. They say they want to see a healthy environment. We do not get so specific as talking about the mineral cycle and the water cycle, but it is something that I understand. They talk about the fact that they want to see healthy trees. When I explain to them that a dead tree that has got beetles in it and the beetles pass on to another tree, a dead and dying tree creates a dead and dying forest, and unless we remove the cancer of that dead and dying tree, it will kill the forest. They say, that, I can understand. Then we move on to fire and I say, if you do not control the litter, the excess, the overgrowth and the dying trees, you will create a fire danger and that is not very bright. You know what they do? They usually go, yeah. You know, we did not realize.…”