Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chair, my amendment would allow land management agencies like the U.S. Forest Service and BLM to quickly remove dead trees after wildfires to pay for reforestation and rehabilitation after devastating fires. Last year, over 1 million acres burned in Montana. Livelihoods were threatened, wildlife habitats were destroyed, and whole landscapes were scarred. My commonsense amendment was passed, verbatim, in the Resilient Federal Forests Act by this body. It would allow the agencies to quickly respond, as well as to raise funds to further rehabilitate the forest. An expedited environmental assessment would still be required and public input would still be included in order to move forward with the project. Most importantly, this amendment would require that at least 75 percent of the burned area would be reforested. These landscape scale projects are badly needed. The Rice Ridge fire burned over 160,000 acres alone. Quickly responding to the damage caused will protect our public lands and restore our watersheds for the future and restore them to the quality we have come to love in Montana. As I mentioned, similar language was included in the Resilient Federal Forests Act, which passed the House on a bipartisan basis on November 11, 2017. My amendment is supported by the Federal Forest Resource Coalition, the National Association of Counties, the National Water Resources Association, and the Idaho Forest Group. Mr.…”