Appropriations / Funding for Healthier Forests
POSITION: Federated
Women in Timber (FWIT) urges you to support increased appropriations for
forest products and fire suppression on our national forests. This funding
is essential to continue to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire,
protect our forests from invasive species, carry out landscape restoration,
and support needed management of our aging forests.
As part of the President’s
fiscal year 2007 budget, the Healthy Forests Initiative (HFI) will receive
$610 million to reduce hazardous fuels and restore forest health. This
represents a $12 million increase over 2006, and an investment that will
work to reduce fire-fighting costs over time.
FWIT also urges Congress to
support the President’s proposed $31.3 million increase for the timber sale
line item for the United States Forest Service (USFS). It is FWIT’s
position that our nation’s forests need to be managed proactively through
timber sale programs. These programs include the harvest of over mature
stands before they become susceptible to damaging agents. Not only is this
good forest management, but it provides our country with required forest
products, making room for the regeneration of vital new forests.
BACKGROUND: Under
the goals of Healthy Forest Restoration Act, federal land managers are
provided with the ability to expedite and improve the process involved in
hazardous fuels reduction projects, reduce the amount of NEPA analysis
involved in projects that fit specified criteria, and reduce frivolous
lawsuits.
Federal land managers have
identified 190 million acres that are at high-risk for fire. The Forest
Service and Department of Interior, through implementation of the HFI, have
treated hazardous fuels and conducted landscape restoration on more than 4.3
million acres of land in 2005. Federal agencies plan to treat an additional
4.5 million more acres in 2006. These efforts must continue to restore the
health of our forests before further degradation occurs.
The Forest Service, at its
inception, was focused on providing abundant, renewable forest resources to
the nation. The availability of these resources helped this country to grow
and prosper. While our focus has changed over time, and we look to our
national forests to fulfill additional needs, our necessity of abundant,
renewable forest products has not diminished. Because of the legal
wrangling over selling timber from our forests over the past two plus
decades, not only have our forests been mismanaged, but also this country
has been forced to turn to foreign imports in order to supply its needs.
Viable timber sale programs are needed on every forest in this country not
only because they provide professional forests with an essential management
tool, but they help supply products to our nation. Furthermore, viable
timber sale programs throughout the northwest, west, and southwest, where
catastrophic fires are most prevalent, will help generate much needed
revenue to continue funding forest restoration projects in future years.
RATIONALE: Adequate
funding is needed to continue implementation of the HFI on our national
forests to turn “high-risk” acres into healthy, productive acres. The
President’s proposed 2007 budget would allow an additional 4.6 million acres
of land to be treated through hazardous fuel treatments and site restoration
projects. More importantly, the proposed budget shifts the focus away from
simply measuring acres that have been treated, but looks at overall
improvements to forest health that would decrease forest mortality on a
larger scale over the landscape.
The 2007 budget also
reflects the President’s commitment to collaboration and sustainable
forestry especially in the Northwest through increased funding to fully
implement the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan. This plan promised to produce a
sustainable level of timber sales while protecting the long-term health of
forests, wildlife and waterways of the region. The budget proposal
increases appropriations for the plan by $66 million for a total of $182
million. It also allows the Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest and Pacific
Southwest Regions to offer over 800 million board feet of timber to meet the
goals of the Northwest Forest Plan. The budget also emphasizes improving the
overall effectiveness of the Forest Service through efficient management.
Therefore, FWIT supports the President’s budget with its efforts to increase
overall timber funding while reducing overhead, business management, and
other indirect costs by one-third.
CONCLUSION: Federated
Women in Timber strongly supported the Healthy Forest Initiative of 2002 and
Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003. We have always supported fully
funding our Forest Plans to include timber sale programs, for they provide
the framework for good forest management. We urge you to support the
President’s 2007 Budget increases that work to make our forests healthier.
Responsible forest stewardship and active timber sale programs will create
safe, healthy forests that in turn provide needed forest products to our
nation.
We agree with the
President’s directive in the 2007 budget to streamline forest planning and
restoration, while providing funding to monitor and protect the long-term
health of forests, wildlife, and waterways in the Pacific Northwest. More
importantly, we desire this for all of our national forests. We ask that
Congress appropriate the funds necessary to support this initiative and work
toward fully funding all of our Forest Plans.
MKP/LS/06
