Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Dan Newhouse (WA-04), Senate Western Caucus Chair Cynthia Lummis (WY), and the Western Caucus Foundation hosted a Forestry and Wildfire Policy Forum in Washington, DC, to discuss how we can better manage our forests to prevent wildfires and protect our rural communities while creating an opportunity for dialogue between western states, Forest Service, and Congressional staff.
 
“We’re focusing on the need to actively manage our federal forests to prevent the devasting wildfires that have ravaged and destroyed communities throughout the West, because like it or not, fire season comes every year, and recently, it’s only gotten worse,” said Chairman Newhouse. “It’s clear that both the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management need to accomplish more hazardous fuels reduction work, and these agencies need a clear statutory tool to treat our forests more efficiently through federal, state, local, and tribal collaboration. But this is only one part of what needs to be a comprehensive solution to how we can better manage our forests to prevent wildfires and protect our rural communities.” Watch his opening remarks here.

Joining Chairman Newhouse and Chair Lummis at the Forestry and Wildfire Policy Forum were Executive Vice Chair and Chair of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Forestry Doug LaMalfa (CA-01), Vice Chair and Chair of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands Tom Tiffany (WI-07), and Senate Western Caucus Chair Emeritus Steve Daines (MT).
 
“Wyoming is home to hundreds of thousands of acres of forests, and our national forests are a huge economic driver for our state. However, these forests can only continue to be an economic driver if they are properly cared for, managed, maintained and harvested,” said Senator Lummis. “I am fighting to make sure that Wyoming forests are included in plans that prioritize responsible conservation instead of radical environmentalism.”
 
“Catastrophic wildfires don’t just affect nearby residents; smoke from the Dixie Fire in Northern California made it all the way to the East Coast,” said Executive Vice Chair LaMalfa. “Proper forest management that lowers the risk of wildfires should be a common-sense, unifying effort. I was pleased to participate in this policy forum and discuss ways to accomplish this with industry experts.”
 
“Isn't it important to promote healthy forest management in order to reduce wildfires? I talk all the time about conservation management rather than this preservationist mentality that's gotten us all into this trouble,” said Vice Chair Tiffany.
 
“In Montana alone we have over 300 million board feet tied up by litigation, so if we’re serious about solving this issue and improving the condition of our forests, we've got to address this litigation problem," said Senator Daines. "As a kid growing up in Montana, we had 30 active sawmills. Today, we're down to five. We can't let Montana go down the path like Colorado ended up being where you lose the infrastructure and the workforce and then you have very little hope forever bringing back an industry to do what they do so well, which is help us manage our forests, create jobs, and provide tax revenues to counties that have a lot of federal lands and don't get revenue.”
 
You can watch the forum in three parts below:
Part I: https://youtu.be/_WDELg2CmEI
Part II: https://youtu.be/6ltvs0vvzrg
Part III: https://youtu.be/HHAlJGUzC5o