Elizabeth Furse: “I am a sponsor of this amendment and, obviously, I rise in strong support of the Porter-Kennedy amendment. It would end…”

“I am a sponsor of this amendment and, obviously, I rise in strong support of the Porter-Kennedy amendment. It would end taxpayer subsidies for the construction of logging roads in our national forests. People said it is not a subsidy? USA Today says it is a subsidy. The Washington Post says it is a subsidy. I have heard a great amount of talk about the recreational needs and how people who are recreating would use these roads and why they would oppose this amendment. However, I wanted to point out who does support this amendment: Trout Unlimited. They recreate; Steelhead Committee of the Federation of Fly Fishers; the Northwest Sports Fishing Association; the Association of Northwest Steelheaders; Idaho Rivers United; Puget Sound Gill Netters; Washington Trout. They support this amendment because they know that this amendment is good for recreaters. My region has been plagued by catastrophic floods that triggered hundreds of mud slides. Study after study found that the majority of these slides were associated with logging roads and the clear cuts they accessed. Mud slides also cause job loss. They destroy the habitat of our imperiled salmon runs. These fisheries once provided more than 60,000 jobs and revenues to my region annually. But the runs have gone belly up because, amongst other things, we have very destructive road-building activity.”