Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Madam Chair, I would like to thank the gentleman from California, Chairman Calvert, for allowing me the opportunity to offer this important amendment.

I rise today in support of my amendment. My amendment is simple. It removes $12 million from the EPA's environmental programs and management account and places $10 million into the U.S. Forest Service's forest and rangeland research account, which funds important scientific research through the Forest Inventory and Analysis Program and the Forest Products Laboratory. This will free up money from the Federal bureaucracy for use in on-the-ground scientific research into forest health, wood products, biomass, and threatened species.

To make sound forest management decisions, it is imperative to quantify the amount of standing timber, the harvest and usage rates, how much is lost to insects and disease infestation, how many trees are lost to wildfire, and how much net growth occurs in our forest. The Forest Inventory and Analysis Program does just that.

The data is used to assess the quantity and quality of our forestlands, both public and private. It lets us know if we are gaining or losing forestland, and it tells us if we have a net loss or net gain in trees and tree volume. This data is critical to calculate how much carbon storage we have in our forest, and without this data, we cannot understand our total carbon balance.

The Forest Service often finds itself on extended sampling periods, sometime as many as 6 or 7 years, leading to delayed analysis of our Nation's forest landscape. This forces States to increase their matching contributions in order to have sound, timely scientific data for statewide forest management plans.

FIA takes proactive, positive steps in the area of better forest management. FIA leads to scientific forest management practices that increase carbon storage and reduce the threat to wildfire. Additional funding to FIA will also give wood products and timber industries certainty in making business decisions. Forestry employs approximately 2.8 million people nationwide, and this is larger than the automotive industry.

The forest and rangeland research account also funds the Forest Products Laboratory. The Forest Products Laboratory conducts significant scientific research into wood products, forest biomass, the use of wood in tall buildings and threats to various species, such as white-nose syndrome. This amendment is a win-win for a healthy environment and scientific research.

Madam Chair, I again want to thank the gentleman from California, Chairman Calvert, for the opportunity to offer this amendment.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. I yield to the gentleman from California.
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Mr. WESTERMAN. Madam Chair, healthy forests are critical to clean air, clean water, better wildlife habitat, better recreation opportunities, and more biodiversity. This amendment will promote healthy forests, and I urge a ``yes'' vote.

Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Madam Chair, I must say, as I rise in opposition to this amendment, that I serve on the Natural Resources Committee with the gentlewoman from Michigan, and I know that we hold a common idea to be good stewards of our resources. We just happen to have a difference of opinion on the best way to do that on this issue, so I must rise in opposition to her amendment.

Our Nation's forests are in dire health, and Congress must provide the Forest Service additional tools to allow more management of our national forest system.

This amendment would needlessly deny the Forest Service an opportunity to more quickly address a forest system that is overgrown and prone to wildfire, disease, and insect infestation.

Last summer I was proud to sponsor H.R. 2647, the Resilient Federal Forest Act, which passed the House with a strong bipartisan majority. This bill included several provisions to allow the Forest Service to engage in urgently needed restoration in a more timely fashion.

These are forest stands that are already being destroyed by natural occurrences; and in order to restore those forest habitats, we have to act in an urgent and a timely manner.

One specific provision would allow the Forest Service to treat up to 3,000 acres of land at a time under a categorical exclusion from NEPA within limited circumstances. Some of these circumstances include treating a forest infected by invasive species, if a forest has been affected by a natural disaster such as a hurricane or tornado, or if work is needed to protect a municipal water source.

This provision was based on a carefully crafted provision in the 2014 farm bill that the Forest Service has used successfully to reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfire in our rural communities. I am pleased that Chairman Calvert chose to include this provision in the fiscal year 2017 Interior Appropriations bill.

The Natural Resources Committee has heard testimony from stakeholders across the country about the dire need to better manage our forests. We have heard from the Forest Service that nearly 60 million acres of land are in need of some form of treatment. While we wait for the Senate to act on wildfire legislation, we must continue to seek opportunities to help reduce the threat of wildfire to communities across the country.

This amendment would strip this important provision from the appropriations bill. We should be doing more to shorten the timeframe for the Forest Service to engage in restoration work. I urge my colleagues to join me in opposing this amendment.

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