Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I include in the Record a letter of support for the legislation from the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association, and a statement of support from the former Chief of the Forest Service, Tom Tidwell. NLBMDA Praises Reintroduction of Resilient Federal Forests Act Washington, DC.--The National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) praises the introduction yesterday of the Resilient Federal Forests Act by (H.R. 2936) Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR). The legislation helps protect the national forest system by implementing best practices intended to lessen the threat of wildfires. Original cosponsors for the bipartisan bill include Reps. Raul Labrador (R-ID), Tom McClintock (R-CA), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Rick Nolan (D-MN), Collin Peterson (D-MN), and Scott Tipton (R-CO). Rep. Westerman introduced the legislation during the previous Congress in 2015, where it passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 262-167 with support from 21 Democrats who crossed the aisle to support the bill. The U.S. Forest Service manages over 190 million acres. Of this, 46 million acres is designated as allowable for timber harvest. Timber harvests from federal forests declined by 78 percent between 1987 and 2015, from 11.3 to 2.5 billion board feet. This is far below the long-term, sustainable capability of these lands of 12.2 billion board feet per year.…”