Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2015
Floor Speech
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Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this amendment. I want to thank the ranking member from the Conservation and Forestry Subcommittee for bringing this amendment forward.
This amendment obviously allows the Forest Service to create a pilot program that would execute contracts with tribes to perform administrative, management, and other functions of the program for the Tribal Forest Protection Act of 2004.
Allowing the Forest Service to execute contracts would recognize the government-to-government relationship that tribes have with the Federal Government, and it would be in line with the intent of the Tribal Forest Protection Act of working with tribes as partners.
I certainly would encourage my colleagues to support this amendment.
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Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I actually rise in support of this amendment as chairman of the Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry of the Committee on Agriculture.
It is consistent with the U.S. Forest Service's recognition of the important role that advanced wood products can play, particularly in building construction. New and innovative technologies are yielding building products that are greener, stronger, fire resistant, and even safer in response to earthquakes than nonwood alternatives.
The bottom line is, when it comes to good, healthy forest management, it is just not some of the barriers we are dealing with today in terms of harvesting; it is also about driving the market and increasing the value.
It is a three-legged stool for healthy forests. I am very pleased with the underlying bill. I think that is helping on step one. I think this amendment helps us in terms of pushing the market value and the value of timber, and it is certainly consistent with many of the steps that we took within the farm bill in terms of research for advanced wood products.
I just am very pleased to support this amendment.
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