Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I commend the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Herrera Beutler) for her leadership on this issue.

Mr. Chairman, the amendment that is at the desk directs a portion of revenue from stewardship contracting toward individual counties for further investment in roads, schools, and the like.

This amendment has no effect on in-kind contributions or exchanges of timber for goods or services provided. This amendment only affects the rare instance where stewardship contracts are exchanged for cash.

Per the 1908 Forest Service revenue-sharing law, counties are entitled to 25 percent of all timber receipts sold from Federal lands within their borders. This amendment simply ensures that if it looks like a timber sale, where timber is exchanged for cash, counties receive the same share they would if the Forest Service had sold the timber outright.

The argument that this amendment siphons off money from the Forest Service is false. This amendment does not affect or reduce the reinvestment from in-kind contributions. Furthermore, little investment can be made in our Nation's forest at all if there are no local communities to cultivate the investment.

This amendment ensures that counties can continue to invest in their forests and their children's future, both by protecting the good work of stewardship contracting and by ensuring that our rural counties get their fair share.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support a fair share for rural communities.

Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Chair, my amendment promotes collaborative forest management, cuts red tape, and encourages the Forest Service to plan for the long- term health of our Nation's forests.

Mr. Chair, if we were to go to the doctor and we had cancer and the doctor offered a treatment for that cancer but decided it might not be in our best interests, we wouldn't just leave. We would want to find out what the best treatment was.

What is happening in our national forests is, if one plan is rejected, we do nothing, and we don't treat the disease of mismanagement that is currently happening in our forests.

Implementing sound, scientifically-based management reforms is necessary to address the growing economic and environmental threats of catastrophic wildfire. Prevention through active management is the best medicine to make our forests healthy.

By requiring environmental analysis of a collaboratively developed proposal to be weighed against a ``no action'' alternative--the impacts of doing nothing on forest health and wildfire risk--this amendment ensures that taxpayer dollars are spent only on analysis and project planning that protects our forests' long-term health. Further, my amendment ensures that long-term forest health is considered by the courts when granting an injunction on critical forest management activities.

This amendment previously received bipartisan support in the House as part of the Resilient Federal Forests Act. It has no cost to the American taxpayer and is supported by a variety of organizations, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Association of Counties, the National Association of Home Builders, and more.

Mr. Chair, inaction itself is a forest management decision. Standing by and doing nothing is the reason we continue to watch our forests burn.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, this bill, again, does not sidestep any environmental activity. It just simply says that we have to evaluate the do-nothing option and what the effects to the forest are from that.

Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Gosar).

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, this amendment does not sidestep NEPA, it does not weaken NEPA, it just simply says you have to evaluate the alternative of doing nothing.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tipton).

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I just want to say this amendment ensures that we prioritize the long-term health of our forest and we equip the Forest Service with the tools they need to execute a plan.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support the sustained health of our Nation's forests, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

My amendment is simple. It calls for the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to report back on the progress they are making to address the problem of catastrophic wildfires, a problem that has continued to get worse year after year under the current program.

Our current forest management process took decades of mismanagement, inaction, and neglect to create. We have essentially slowly and methodically loved our trees to death on much of our Federal lands. It will take decades to reverse the effects this mismanagement has had on our forests, during which time we will likely see more major, devastating wildfires.

This amendment simply requires our Federal agencies addressing this issue to report back on how they are doing, not only so Congress can provide oversight on their progress but so the American people can know how their Federal Government is doing so that we can measure, monitor, and demand accountability.

Mr. Chairman, I think I speak for this entire Chamber when I say that our goal is to reduce the effects of wildfires and be transparent for the American people each step of the way. My amendment promotes transparency and accountability as we work towards this goal.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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