Fight wildfires without gutting conservation rules

By the Editorial Board
The Press Democrat
November 5, 2017
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Millions of acres have burned in the West in recent years. Sonoma County experienced some of the worst of it in recent weeks. Congress might finally be ready to help, but Republicans cannot seem to pass meaningful reform without using it as a vehicle to roll back environmental protections. …On Wednesday, the House passed the Resilient Federal Forests Act sponsored by Rep. Bruce Westerman, a Republican from Arkansas. His bill would improve the funding situation for fires, but that is mostly an afterthought.  …Congress can fix the wildfire funding problem without layering on controversial anti- environmental measures and sops to the timber industry. Logging can be part of successful forest management, but only if it’s done with environmental and strategic oversight. Lawmakers must remember that we hold national forests and other public lands in trust for future generations.

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