It would be so great if they could be used for creating fuel.

If we don't protect these forest industries, to a certain extent we are fueling our own problems.

It is time we learn what tools our land managers need to address this epidemic and ensure they have those tools at their disposal.

It is time we learned what tools our land managers need to address this epidemic.

And I would encourage President Obama to make Representative Minnick the Forest Czar, to address bark beetle issues.

Healthy forests are integral to our lives and livelihoods.

I appreciated your testimony and your desire to teach people and different generations about respect for land and culture.

It allows them to begin the first what I call baby steps toward that, which quite frankly is a little bit less than what other people have gotten over the years.

Why should Congress not apply the same criteria to the request of Native Hawaiians as is applied to the tribes that I deal with within the contiguous United States?

I am eager to hear the steps that the Forest Service intends to take to mitigate the beetle epidemic and to reduce the fuel load that has continued to grow year after year.

Healthy forests are integral to our lives and livelihoods. That is why I am so concerned about the current state of our forests.

A quick question about government intervention in our economy, given the degree and depth of the government intervention in the economy, which is the highest since World War II, can you estimate how long it might take for the government to…

I have always thought when it came to NEPA and FLIPMA that local governments were supposed to receive the opportunity to cooperate with the Federal Government with regard to land planning.

I join the gentleman from Oregon in applauding you for holding this hearing today. It is a very important hearing, and I appreciate your doing it.

I would be pleased to host such a hearing in Wyoming so we can visit the vast swaths of forest destroyed by beetles in my state.

I want to ask unanimous consent to introduce that, Mr. Chairman.

What are the biggest factors, Jim, in forcing the forest products industry to struggle so much?

What specific steps do you anticipate the Forest Service undertaking to reduce the hazardous fuel load in areas like this?

suppose if we froze spending of the Federal Government's budgets at 2009 level and then let the stimulus package continue to work, would that be a way to begin to address the deficit and the debt as well as allow the stimulus monies to…

If Congress were to freeze spending at 2009 fiscal year levels and freeze release of the TARP funds at the end of the this fiscal year, do you believe the economy will have recovered adequately that we could then begin to address the debt…

I wish all of the forests were managed as well as the Black Hills National Forest.

I would ask you, almost plead with you, to look at the Bridger-Teton Forest management in Wyoming.

If Congress just increases taxes to eliminate the deficit in 10 years, let's say, without cutting spending, could that have an effect on our economic recovery, a negative effect?

Slash piles can be either burned and produce more carbon with no benefit to the economy or they can be used to produce products that augment the nation's renewable energy resources.

I do want to renew my invitation to the Chairman to hold a field hearing to explore the issue of bark beetle destruction in greater detail.