Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. TIFFANY. Mr. Chair, my amendment strikes funding in the bill to close existing Forest Service roads. Maintaining and expanding access to our public lands has been a priority for me and many of my colleagues on the Natural Resources Committee this Congress.

Another lesser-known but equally important threat to access is the closure and decommissioning of roads and trails. Since 1991, the Forest Service has decommissioned an average of 2,000 miles of roads per year. Public lands across the Nation are under threat from big-city environmental groups that are hellbent on restricting public access to our shared public lands.

Shutting down these avenues for access doesn't just limit opportunities for recreational opportunities, like hunting, fishing, and ATVing, but it also makes responsible management efforts more difficult and expensive. That is exactly their goal.

My subcommittee saw these road closures firsthand in the Chequamegon- Nicolet National Forest in my district during a field hearing in May. It is not a coincidence that many of these local road closures correlate with the decline in the local forest products industry, the same industry that helps keep our forests and the communities that depend on them healthy and vibrant.

Forest Service roads can also act as an important firebreak for wildfires and allow quicker access for fighting them.

The language of decommissioning roads that are no longer needed is quite vague. In my experience, the Forest Service has not been very good about coordinating with local communities before closing roads that many people use.

Mr. Chair, why are we spending tax dollars to close roads we spent tax money to build?

It makes no sense.

Let's make a U-turn on the harmful policy and stop throwing up roadblocks that make it more difficult for Americans to visit these special places. I ask for a ``yes'' vote on the amendment.

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Mr. TIFFANY. Mr. Chair, I wish the gentlewoman would have been with us on our tour in May in northern Wisconsin. She would have heard from local people, local elected officials, State elected officials, and others who are harmed by these road closures that are happening.

The waste of tax dollars is very significant. We saw perfectly fine roads that had been constructed to do logging projects and then they were removed.

We heard from a couple of elderly ladies who are berry pickers, which is a favorite pastime of many people up in northern Wisconsin at this time of year. They used to go out there and be able to pick berries now and then. They can no longer do that.

This is denying access to the very people who want to use our public lands that are taken care of with their tax dollars. There is no reason to close these roads. These roads have been active, oftentimes for decades, with no problems, and it is not rational to use the argument that this is going to harm the watershed.

If you come to some of the areas that we toured on our trip in May, you will see some of the finest waters that you will find in northern Wisconsin, and they were that way when these roads were active. There is no reason that we should be closing and decommissioning these roads.

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

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