The Senate Agriculture Committee had a really good hearing on the Fix Our Forests Act today, which you can watch below. And I would recommend that you do so, if possible, especially if you have concerns about the bill.
The witness was the US Forest Service's Acting Associate Chief Chris French. I didn't know anything about him, and there's always a concern that high-level federal agency folks might be political hacks. That's definitely not the case here; French has worked in forests his entire career. He was very impressive and sincere throughout the hearing and alleviated my potential concerns about Forest Service leadership.
Several Senate Democrats on the committee asked a lot of the questions that have been raised about Fix Our Forests, like the concerns about Forest Service staffing levels, the size of the Categorical Exclusions in the bill, and the shortened statute of limitations for lawsuits. I found all of his answers very informative and reassuring, except on the staffing. There's no much he can do there, though he did note that the Forest Service will have to rely more on state resources via good neighbor agreements to get these forest management projects done if their staff is depleted as planned. CCL will combine advocacy for Forest Service staffing with our advocacy for the Fix Our Forests Act.
You can watch the hearing here:
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