Trees Are Truly Amazing

Floor Speech

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the trees, the forest they call home, and all Americans who live near there.

In the words of the poet Joyce Kilmer: I think that I shall never see A poem as lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed Against the Earth's sweet flowing breast. A tree that looks at God all day And lifts her leaf-filled arms to pray. A tree that may in summer wear A nest of robins in her hair. Upon whose bosom snow has lain, Who's intimately lived with rain. Poems are made by folks like me, But only God can make a tree.

Mr. Speaker, trees are truly amazing. Through the remarkable process of photosynthesis, trees take in carbon dioxide. They store the carbon in the wood, and they release the oxygen back for us to breathe. Trees provide us with clean air.

But just as important as clean air, trees provide us with clean water. Their roots hold the soil together, and as water percolates through, they clean the water.

Forests also provide wildlife habitat. They provide us places for outdoor recreation. Trees provide amazing green building products, like mass timber. Trees provide packaging for shipping. And let us not forget where toilet paper comes from.

No wonder trees are so admired, as they should be. However, our beloved trees and forests in the West have a different image today, one not of grandeur and amazing beauty, but one of fuel in an apocalyptic inferno that is killing people, destroying homes and property, and leaving barren landscapes below and choking smoke above.

Mr. Speaker, unlike the mythical Ents of middle-earth in the ``Lord of the Rings,'' our trees cannot speak for themselves. I don't claim to be Dr. Seuss' Lorax, but if trees could talk, I believe they would be crying out: Hey, humans, stop loving us to death. Hey, humans, we need some relief, and you are supposed to be taking care of us. Hey, Congress, you are killing us, and if we die, you die. Please work together and apply your husbandry skills to give us a chance. When trees win, humans win.

Mr. Speaker, even as the climate changes and fire threats increase in the West, there is hope if we will just do the right thing. That right thing is forest management, and it looks different on different sites.

Here is an example of how it looks in my home State of Arkansas. This is the Felsenthal National Wildlife Management area. You can see an unmanaged forest, the control site. You see the thick underbrush, the midstory and the understory that is too thick. You see the simple management practices of thinning out the understory, doing controlled burns, and at the bottom you see what a beautiful, healthy forest looks like.

Here is an example of how it looks in California. This is an aerial shot from the devastating Camp fire near Paradise. This red hatched area, that is where the fire burned. This dark red line, that is where the fire was stopped.

You can see this little band right here. That was actually a firebreak that was put in place by a private forestry company to stop the spread of fire onto their land because public lands are so mismanaged.

Here is what that firebreak looked like. It was a thinned area where the fire came in from this direction. It went down to the ground, and firemen were actually able to put it out and save the forest on the other side.

That is what sound forest management looks like. This is not clear- cutting. It is commonsense, science-based management that works.

Mr. Speaker, now is the time to act--not after the election, not the next Congress, but now. In the Trillion Trees Act, we have outlined policies to implement the most basic forest management practices to the four most critical areas:

The wildland urban interface where fire can start, but where breaks can be created and we can thin;

Energy transportation corridors. We know fires can start from electric arcs;

Transportation corridors, where trains and cars can create sparks and where more humans are near the forest;

And last but not least, in critical watersheds where the damage is felt long after the fires are out.

For the sake of our forests, our environment, and all Americans, I urge Congress to act. Pass the Trillion Trees Act, and let's be the good stewards that the trees deserve.

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