Bipartisan Wildfire Legislation Offers Proactive Solution to Support Healthy Forest Management

Statement

Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after the House successfully passed H.R. 2647, the Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2015, of which he was a cosponsor, by a vote of 262-167:

"There is no question that our current wildfire policies primarily focus on reacting to these devastating fires instead of working proactively to prevent more of them from occurring. Over 40 years of federal forest mismanagement has directly led to old forest overgrowth. It defies commonsense that only a fraction of federal land is treated every year by the U.S. Forest Service despite the proven scientific results of current forest thinning measures.

"Additionally, federal laws have enabled environmental extremists to block reasonable wildfire prevention programs, effectively putting their ideology over the well-being of millions of Americans. H.R. 2647 is a bipartisan, positive solution that seeks to end this dysfunction by strengthening collaboration between numerous local stakeholders and the U.S. Forest Service while stripping away incentives for environmental groups to file frivolous lawsuits. This legislation will streamline the permitting process for proactive thinning projects while still providing adequate resources for reforestation."

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