Thune Urges Appropriations Committee to Prioritize Forest Management Over Land Acquisition

Press Release

U.S. Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota), today led a number of his colleagues in sending a letter to Senators Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, urging the committee to prioritize forest management, including efforts to address the pine beetle outbreak in the Black Hills National Forest, over land acquisition in the Fiscal Year 2015 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill.

The senators write, "In order to adequately address the bark beetle and wildfire devastation as well as other management needs, Congress should ensure that the Forest Service prioritize limited resources to adequately manage the lands for which it is currently responsible, rather continue to acquire additional property".

Thune has been a leader in helping to fight pine beetles and improve forest health. Thune secured a provision in the 2014 Farm Bill (Section 8204) that allows state governors to request the Forest Service's designation of the most critical national forest areas in need of insect and disease treatment. The Farm Bill's newly streamlined landscape priority process led the U.S. Department of Agriculture to recently approve 72 contiguous units, or 992,080 acres in the Black Hills National Forest, for high priority pine beetle and disease treatment. This designation should improve control of the devastating pine beetle outbreak in these areas.

Thune was joined in his letter by Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Pat Toomey (R-Pennsylvania), and Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi).

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