Jaime Herrera Beutler

I am really interested, I heard a statistic, it was one of those fact of the week type things this last week about the IRS having a 24/7 television studio in their satellite TV studio that they operate.

I think that is fair. If the answer is "no," that is fair.

And, honestly, I believe in balance.

I agree 100 percent with you that these are treasures, and where we can pull in these public-private partnerships, it is a win-win.

Should we be making sure that everything that we own right now is best maintained before we increase those acquisitions?

I do not know quite how to say that--will be defending, right?

Do you envision ways or safeguards we can put into place if we were to create some sort of a trust fund?

I would be happy with statewide information as well.

If we don't change the way that Federal lands are managed, it is going to impact State lands regardless.

Lewis County, like so many Washington State counties, was once a thriving timber community with thousands of timber jobs.

I am honored to join this Committee for this very important hearing.

I made the point one way, using the quote that Governor Otter used quoting GAO, one way in my mind--I think we were spending around $300 million on the maintenance side and about $2 billion on the fire-fighting side.

This is mostly for Commissioner Grose. I have two quick questions.

Thank you for your strong interest and support of Pearson Air Museum.

I mean is there a process that we can--where do I go--because I have been trying at those levels to fix this, and it is not working.

Well, this is one of the things I was told was, 'Well, maybe there is more sensitive environmental or tribal issues in this area, as compared to a different district.'

I mean it is--I almost wish our problems were with permitting, you know, the more onerous types of projects.

And let me jump in on that because I think you are right.

How the President calls this a $2 billion mandate and yet you are telling me it is $2 billion plus.

I don't think safety and our small business owners are mutually exclusive. I mean to assume that is irrational.

We have tremendous resources in our area. I'm not just talking about the forests. I'm not just talking about the species. I'm talking about our region as a whole, our community, and yes, healthy forests are part of our DNA.

And kind of skipping over to a different question that since I have you here I wanted to bring up.

Absolutely. Let me also speak to, with regards to the areas of forest that have been designated as critical habitat for the last 20 years, do you believe that those areas are healthier today than they were before the designation?

We're kind of coming up to what I think a big part of the reason we're here.

As you know, President Obama has directed the Department of Interior to come up with an economic analysis of the spotted oil critical habitat that's due very shortly.