Federal Land Assistance, Management And Enhancement Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. POLIS. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to thank Chairman Rahall and his staff for their leadership on an intelligent and important bill that will do a world of good work for districts like mine in the West and other districts across the country where people live, work and play in and around our public lands.

With the establishment of the FLAME Fund, our Nation's land management agencies are freed from the overbearing costs of fighting wildfires and once again will be able to focus their efforts on the local communities and public land users they were created to serve, as well as fire prevention.

This bill also, finally, guarantees that a cohesive wildfire management strategy is completed and put into place, a strategy that is long overdue and the absence of which has already damaged wildfire suppression efforts across our country.

Mr. Chairman, this vital cohesive plan, which has been called for time and time again by the General Accountability Office, is kept up-to-date and remains an effective tool as years go by.

My district in Colorado is a prime example of why we need an ever-evolving fire management plan. We have been hit hard by the mountain pine beetle infestation, an epidemic that has killed millions of acres of trees, turning the area into a potential powder keg for fire risk, and brought the threat of wildfires into our backyards in ways that we could not have predicted prior to the outbreak.

Over the past 10 years, the outbreak has spread to more and more areas and is now hitting newer species of pine.

Climate modeling predicts that a large change in the frequency of precipitation and the intensity of droughts in the area could only add increasing wildfire risks. My district is already experiencing the effects of climate change, and any national wildfire plan needs to change in step with our environment.

My amendment ensures that the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture work to continually update the cohesive fire management plan by requiring that they provide a revised plan at least once every 5 years that takes into account community needs and our changing climate.

We owe it to our brave firefighters and the efficiency-minded taxpayers to ensure that this fundamental part of wildfire management policy stays up-to-date and doesn't let our communities fall by the way side.

Mr. Chair, this amendment and this bill are vitally important to ensuring responsible national wildfire policy. I urge passage of the amendment and the underlying bill.

I yield to the gentleman from West Virginia.

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