Fix Our Forests Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of my amendment and the underlying bill.

I thank Mr. Westerman as well as Mr. Peters for presenting the bill to us. It is a necessary fix to an ongoing challenge that we have in our national forests and in the urban-wildland interface areas.

I also thank Congressman Fallon, who is the cosponsor of this amendment.

Now, what we are trying to do here is to include special districts. Right now, special districts are not included in the legislation. Tribes and local governments are, and that is all to the good, however, in California, special districts often provide the necessary control of the areas in the wildland areas as well as in the urban-wildland interface.

Specifically, in my district, we have the East Bay Regional Park District. Most of the wildland in the East Bay of San Francisco Bay is controlled and owned by the park district.

Right now, they would not be able to participate in the programs of this legislation, so we clarified that special districts are eligible to participate in the wildfire-prevention programs authorized under the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003, as well in this new legislation, the Fix Our Forests Act. This would provide opportunities for the special districts to help reduce the wildfire risk, support responsible environmental stewardship, and facilitate emergency response and all of the other elements in the legislation.

Secondly, the amendment expands the Good Neighbor Authority to include special districts. The Good Neighbor Authority allows the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to collaborate with States, counties, and federally recognized Indian Tribes to plan and implement cross-jurisdictional restoration work.

Since special districts are not currently included in the Good Neighbor Authority, they must collaborate with the State government or other eligible entity to participate. Our amendment would finally allow the special districts to enter into Good Neighbor Authority agreements and use their local expertise and partnerships to advance restoration projects in their communities.

As Western States face an increasingly severe year-round fire season, we will need every tool in the toolbox to implement proper forest management practices and reduce the risk that wildfires pose to our communities.

Our amendment would put special districts on par with other forms of government and allow them to be a strong partner in protecting their communities.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to adopt our commonsense, bipartisan amendment that would enable the special districts to participate in existing conservation efforts and further use their specialized expertise to uphold the health and safety of our community.

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

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