Healthy forests require active management in the form of mechanical thinning, prescribed fires, and other activities to ensure they do not become overgrown tinderboxes, as we see now.

We have all seen the footage from California, Oregon, and Washington. It is surreal, and it is terrifying.

I want to talk today about what we can do to meet the needs and face the challenges presented by this unprecedented wildfire season.

We've all seen the footage from California, Oregon, and Washington. It's surreal and it's terrifying.

Climate change is real, it is here, and the failure of this or any committee in Congress to take action will have real human costs.

I would assure you our scientists suggest that these western landscapes have an incredible capability to absorb fire and keep on going.

Just to ensure that I have understood, and the rest of the Committee is following along, that is because natural fires that were coming through would have processed and would have taken out trees over time so that we were at that natural rate of 64?

In advance of the Subcommittee's September 24, 2020 hearing, The 2020 Wildfire Year: Response and Recovery Efforts...

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

I request that you include these documents in the permanent record of the hearing, as they articulate Western Governors' policy positions...

Rather than supporting H.R. 7978 in the name of fire safety, we urge support by the House for legislation which focuses on science-based methods to mitigate wildfire risk.