Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests
Floor Speech
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Mr. CRAPO. Madam President, I rise today to highlight some meaningful progress underway on the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests to improve the health of these forests. These collaborative efforts are showing progress, and they are an example of where we can go nationally.
Collaboration brings results. I have been a longtime champion of collaboration to address public lands management disputes, as collaborative processes are good for the environment and good for natural-resource based economies. Collaborative problem-solving is a key way to ensure that all voices are heard and long-term solutions are crafted.
Working together through collaboration does not require a sacrifice of principles, but it does require earnest negotiations with respect for ideas from all perspectives and a willingness to work to understand each other's objectives. Inevitably, at several points along the collaborative path, there are strong disagreements. However, participants' refusal to quit is a key attribute of successful collaborative efforts.
One of the greatest benefits of collaboration is that it enables the achievement of solutions that are better than the status quo for all stakeholders. Such solutions are better for the environment and the economy. Through collaboration, participants can actually achieve their objectives and in ways that benefit the entire community.
The work on the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests is a great example of the benefits of collaborative efforts. The Clearwater Basin Collaborative, or CBC, as we call it, which was officially launched 12 years ago, has had an important role in furthering discussions about the management of the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests. Nez Perce Tribal representatives, representatives of Federal and State agencies, county commissioners, local communities, timber companies, conservation groups, and other stakeholders make up the CBC's Working Group, which accommodates a diverse array of viewpoints and objectives.
I met with members of the predecessor group, called the Konkolville Collaborative, and welcomed the opportunity to be a part of the CBC's official launch in 2008. I track the group's progress through dedicating a member of my staff to being part of its discussions focused on resolving longstanding concerns and achieving land management decisions and fostering communication among different interest groups. The remarkable landscape it works to enhance encompasses forestlands providing habitat for treasured wildlife and anadromous fish species; resources for local communities, including timber, livestock grazing, and mining; and natural carbon sinks that help our planet.
The Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests span 4 million acres. Three rivers flow through the forests, providing important water sources, outstanding fishing, and other recreational opportunities. It is truly a remarkable place, and the group's work is far from easy, as there is a lot at stake.
The good news is that we are hearing reports of remarkable achievements being made on the Forests. The Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests have received three significant recognitions this year alone that highlight cooperative restoration work: a Regional Forester's Award for fostering partnership and volunteerism; a Chief's Award for delivering benefits to the public; and an Undersecretary's Award for customer service for the forests' Historic Routes Project.
Through the Historic Routes Project, the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests dedicated approximately $1 million of retained receipts from stewardship contracts to improve water quality through historically sensitive maintenance along three historic roadways: the Lolo Motorway, the Elk City Wagon Road, and the Magruder Road, which attract visitors from all over the country. Project leaders, recognizing the importance of these routes to the local economy and historical significance, have partnered with local groups and the University of Idaho to include digital interpretation that is accessible even in locations without internet service. The project has also been supported through the Secure Rural Schools Resources Advisory Committee to assist with the maintenance.
Stewardship contracts have also been used on the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests to enable the Forest Service to accomplish vegetation and watershed restoration. By leveraging this program with other partnerships and funding sources, the forests are able to have a truly integrated restoration program. Stewardship contracts have enabled fuels and weed treatment, watershed protection and restoration, road maintenance, and enhancements such as the removal of wire fencing to help wildlife
A total of 536 miles of streams have been restored on the Nez Perce- Clearwater National Forests, resulting in the forests being ranked fourth nationwide in miles of streams restored. The forests have a strong partnership with the Nez Perce Tribe, which contributes greatly to its watershed accomplishments. At the same time, priorities of much needed restoration of landscapes, including water quality improvements, are also providing a supply of raw materials to our local mills. In fact, the forests are the fifth in the Nation in providing wood products for purchase.
More work is underway to address significant challenges, but this is the direction we need to continue to go in delivering long-term results. I commend all those involved in this effort for their hard and exemplary work improving our treasured landscapes.
Also, a Good Neighbor Authority program coordinated by the Nez Perce- Clearwater National Forests and the Idaho Department of Lands was recognized with the 2017 Regional Forester Awards. Through the program, forest management has supported fuels reduction and watershed restoration. Further, the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests recently signed a Good Neighbor Authority agreement with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. This will enable the forests and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to work more seamlessly as they collaborate on projects to enhance wildlife habitat such as aspen restoration.
Statewide, the Idaho Department of Lands reports that the agency is utilizing Good Neighbor Authority to partner with national forests in Idaho to expedite projects focused on fuels reduction, forest health improvements, and watershed health. According to an ILD summary from January of this year, the program has enabled the treatment of 4,800 acres through 50 service contracts, at a total value of over $3 million to the private sector, to treat weed infestation, reduce fuels, complete road repairs, and support project planning and monitoring. Other collaborative efforts have laid strong groundwork or follow in the footsteps of collaborative work such as this.
In Idaho we have succeeded with public lands projects such as the Owyhee Initiative and are at hard at work in others, such as the Kootenai Valley Resource Initiative, the Payette Forest Coalition, the Boise Forest Coalition, and others, including our Governor's Shared Stewardship Task Force. I also look forward to the soon-to-be completed recommendations of the Governor's Salmon Workgroup.
Federal policy must empower collaboration and forest health. As Senators and shared stewards of these natural resources, we must continuously work to ensure Federal statute and policy empower collaborative efforts and forest health projects. In 2003, I was proud to work with my congressional colleagues, including Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon and many others, to enact the Healthy Forests Restoration Act, or HFRA, to help provide the U.S. Forest Service with the tools needed to do the necessary work on the ground to restore our forests and help reduce the threat of a catastrophic wildfire to our communities and ecosystems. The HFRA was designed to encourage fuel reduction efforts, protect old-growth forests, enhance water quality, promote community-based land management and public involvement in forest management, and address insect and disease problems. The HFRA has promoted stewardship contracting projects which incorporate public- private partnerships, emphasizing more localized forest management.
In the years since the enactment of the HFRA, Congress has enacted additional legislation to advance forest health. For example, in the 2014 farm bill we included permanent authority for stewardship contracting and the authorization of Good Neighbor Authority. Good Neighbor Authority expanded the Federal Government's ability to partner with State foresters on restoration projects, including bark beetle treatments across State and Federal boundaries. Subsequently, the 2018 farm bill included an expansion of Good Neighbor Authority, credited with increasing the pace and scale of forest restoration projects across Idaho. The 2018 farm bill also, importantly, included a 10-year reauthorization of the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, which has enabled the expansion of active collaborative land- use groups in Idaho. The program encourages large-scale--that is 50,000-plus acres--collaborative, science-based forest restoration projects in a way that encourages environmental and economic sustainability.
The U.S. Forest Service reported that in the first 10 years of the program, the CFLRP opportunities brought together more than 420 organizations to engage in local collaboratives, and CFLRP projects treated 3.8 million acres to reduce wildfire risk.
The CFLRP has supported collaborative work of the Clearwater Basin Collaborative and the Nez Perce-Clearwater Forests to restore conditions within the 1.4 million-acre Selway-Middle Fork ecosystem through stream improvements, the replacement of culverts preventing fish passage, road and trail maintenance, and the reduction of wildfire fuel loads.
Also, the reauthorized Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program has two newly approved projects in Idaho, with one in each region. Region 1 encompasses the Panhandle National Forest, and in Region 4, it encompasses the Payette and Boise National Forests.
We cannot let up in making progress on wildfires. The severely smoke- clogged skies this fire season made the impacts of the fires that have decimated wildlands and communities for years nearly unescapable.
As we think about the lives and livelihoods lost to wildfires, we must continue to work to enact bipartisan forest management reform to build on the progress made in recent years to ensure Federal land agencies have the tools they need to protect communities from deadly wildfires by improving the health of our forests.
Bipartisan legislation pending in this Senate would increase the active management of Federal forests, cut redtape, reduce frivolous litigation, and advance fire risk reduction. Senators Steve Daines, of Montana, and Dianne Feinstein, of California, worked across party lines for months to negotiate the details of the bipartisan Emergency Wildfire and Public Safety Act.
Enactment of sensible, bipartisan legislation such as this, which is also cosponsored by myself and my fellow colleague from Idaho, Senator Jim Risch, can better enable land managers to reduce wildfire risk and respond effectively to an increasingly virulent wildfire reality. This will build on the successful enactment of bipartisan legislation to enable Federal agencies to respond to wildfires as they would to other natural disasters and end the practice of fire borrowing.
Forests make up 39 percent of the land in my home State of Idaho. They are key to air and water quality and sustain wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities. They support communities through wood and paper product jobs and recreation dollars. They are the backdrop and the means for an unparalleled quality of life. Their vitality hinges on their effective management.
I am encouraged by the achievements on the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests, and I urge continued collaborative efforts to address often contentious but necessary natural resource challenges and the enactment of Federal law that bolsters these collaborative efforts for the betterment of all our communities.
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