Charles W. Stenholm: “This bill, if properly implemented, will begin to carefully undo 100 years of mismanagement of our national forests. It…”

“This bill, if properly implemented, will begin to carefully undo 100 years of mismanagement of our national forests. It recognizes that this is going to be a long and expensive process. It recognizes that it cannot be done for nothing. This bill includes a $760 million-a-year authorization. I think we could even go higher. Mr. Speaker, $1 billion a year could be productively spent in the West, given the magnitude of the problem; but it is a significant increase over the commitments we are currently making. It will bring jobs to hard-hit rural areas in the forests. It sets a priority that half the funds should be spent in proximity to high-risk communities in the West, and it also sets priorities for protection of other high-value resources in high-risk areas. If properly implemented and fully funded, I believe that we can begin to step incrementally away from the catastrophic, or potentially catastrophic, conditions that exist throughout the West today.”