We really need one or more volunteers to take a look at current bills, this time in the Senate.
So thank you to a TSW reader for the E&E News story on this.
“The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved 74 bills during a markup Tuesday, including legislation that could generate billions of dollars to address worsening coastal erosion.
The committee also cleared a slew of wildfire, mineral, public land and livestock grazing bills without much debate or discussion.”
Here’s a link to these, there’s also a video of the business meeting. I think you would have to know what the original bill said to understand what the amendments are doing. I know that there are many people in DC and elsewhere paid to keep track of these things, and have probably written this up. Sharing your perceptions with the public via TSW I think would be a good thing. In fact, I bet government agencies do this analysis, and I could FOIA it, but a leak would be quicker.
Here’s the E&E News summary of forest and wildfire bills.
Among the bills approved en bloc were a handful of wildfire and forest management measures. Those included an amended version of S. 2867, by Barrasso, which would set targets for forest thinning and prescribed fire. Late changes to Barrasso’s bill removed a section on workforce training for loggers and on putting limitations on the Biden administration’s definitions of mature and old growth trees in national forests. The administration has finalized those definitions since the bill was introduced.
Other wildfire bills included S. 1764, from Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-Nev.), to improve wildfire planning and suppression grant programs and create post-wildfire recovery programs. An amended version of the bill dropped a provision calling for dedicated accounts for wildfire, a spokesperson for the committee said.
Lawmakers approved S. 2132, from Lee, for a pilot program that would establish standards for forest density. The Utah Republican said forests in fire-prone areas are too dense.
The committee advanced legislation by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the “National Prescribed Fire Act,” S. 4424, to encourage more use of controlled burns on federal lands.
Manchin’s legislation, S. 2991, to encourage greater revegetation on federal lands, including abandoned mine sites, also passed easily.
Some of these below sound interesting from our perspective. Many seem to be about boundary adjustments, putting land into the National Park System, and naming visitor centers after themselves, but others may be more interesting and/or controversial. These were agreed to en bloc by voice vote.
Agenda Item 1: S. 254, a bill to amend the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996 to provide for the establishment of a Ski Area Fee Retention Account, and for other purposes. (Mr. Bennet).
Agenda Item 7: S. 1553, a bill to amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to improve the management of grazing permits and leases, and for other purposes (Mr. Barrasso), with an amendment in the nature of a substitute (Joint Staff-4, as modified (FLO24827)).
Agenda Item 8: S. 1764, a bill to improve Federal activities relating to wildfires, and for other purposes (Ms. Cortez Masto), with an amendment in the nature of a substitute (Manchin-5 (RYA24540)).
Agenda Item 9: S. 2132, a bill to require the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a pilot program for the establishment and use of a pre-fire-suppression stand density index, and for other purposes (Mr. Lee), with an amendment in the nature of a substitute (Lee-6 (RYA24537)).
Agenda Item 10: S. 2151, a bill to amend the Southwest Forest Health and Wildfire Prevention Act of 2004 to require the establishment of an additional Institute under that Act. (Mr. Lee).
Agenda Item 11: S. 2156, a bill to amend the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act to authorize additional entities to be eligible to complete the maintenance work on Bolts Ditch and the Bolts Ditch Headgate within the Holy Cross Wilderness, Colorado. (Mr. Bennet).
Agenda Item 13: S. 2169, a bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to carry out watershed pilots, and for other purposes (Mr. Wyden), with an amendment in the nature of a substitute (Wyden-12 (FLO24732)) and an amendment to the title (Wyden-11 (FLO24597)).
( I wonder what’s keeping the Sec of Int from carrying out watershed pilots?)
Agenda Item 19: S. 2867, a bill to address the forest health crisis on the National Forest System and public lands, and for other purposes (Mr. Barrasso), with an amendment in the nature of a substitute (Barrasso-17, as modified (FLO24825)).
Agenda Item 21: S. 2991, a bill to improve revegetation and carbon sequestration activities in the United States, and for other purposes (Mr. Manchin), with an amendment in the nature of a substitute (Manchin-18, as modified (RYA24592)).
Agenda Item 22: S. 3123, a bill to provide for the standardization, consolidation, and publication of data relating to public outdoor recreational use of Federal waterways among Federal land and water management agencies, and for other purposes (Mr. Barrasso), with an amendment in the nature of a substitute (Barrasso-19 (FLO24677)).
(Is other recreation data standardized, consolidated and published?)
Agenda Item 34: S. 3631, a bill to require reports on critical mineral and rare earth element resources around the world and a strategy for the development of advanced mining, refining, separation, and processing technologies (Mr. Cornyn), with an amendment in the nature of a substitute (King-29 (ROS24F44)).
Agenda Items 35: S. 3790, a bill to make additional Federal public land available for selection under the Alaska Native Vietnam era veterans land allotment program, and for other purposes (Mr. Sullivan), with an amendment in the nature of a substitute (Murkowski- 66 (FLO24876)).
Agenda Item 36: S. 3985, a bill to a bill to amend the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993 to add certain land to the Sarvis Creek Wilderness, and for other purposes. (Mr. Hickenlooper).
Agenda Item 51: S. 4424, a bill to direct the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to encourage and expand the use of prescribed fire on land managed by the Department of the Interior or the Forest Service, with an emphasis on units of the National Forest System in the western United States, to acknowledge and support the long-standing use of cultural burning by Tribes and Indigenous practitioners, and for other purposes (Mr. Wyden), with an amendment in the nature of a substitute (Manchin-44, as modified (RYA24596)).
Agenda Item 54: S. 4451, a bill to require the Secretary of the Interior to enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences to carry out a study on reservation systems for Federal land (Mr. Padilla), with an amendment in the nature of a substitute (Joint Staff-46, as modified (FLO24776).
Agenda Item 55: S. 4454, a bill to provide for the establishment of an Operational Flexibility Grazing Management Program on land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and for other purposes (Mr. Barrasso), with an amendment in the nature of a substitute (Joint Staff-47, as modified (FLO24850)).
Agenda Item 73: S. 5125, a bill to provide for certain improvements to the housing and workforce programs of Federal land management agencies, and for other purposes (Mr. Barrasso), with an amendment in the nature of a substitute (Barrasso-62, as modified (FLO24845)).
Agenda Item 78: H.R. 5443, an Act to establish a policy regarding appraisal and valuation services for real property for a transaction over which the Secretary of the Interior has jurisdiction, and for other purposes. (Rep. Lee).
Agenda items agreed to by roll call vote
Agenda Item 25: S. 3346, a bill to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate certain streams in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem and Smith River system in the State of Montana as components of the Wild and Scenic Rivers System, and for other purposes (Mr. Tester), with an amendment in the nature of a substitute (Manchin-22 (FLO24729)).
Agreed to by roll call vote (10-9)
Agenda Item 31: S. 3593, a bill to provide for economic development and conservation in Washoe County, Nevada, and for other purposes (Ms. Rosen), with an amendment in the nature of a substitute (Manchin-27, as modified (FLO24864)). Agreed to by roll call vote (10-9)
Agenda Item 53: S. 4432, a bill to allow certain Federal minerals to be mined consistent with the Bull Mountains Mining Plan Modification (Mr. Daines), with an amendment in the nature of a substitute (Daines-45 (NEW24792)). Agreed to by roll call vote (12-7)
Agenda Item 56: S. 4457, a bill to provide for conservation and economic development in the State of Nevada, and for other purposes (Ms. Cortez Masto), with an amendment in the nature of a substitute (Manchin-48, as modified (FLO24863)). Agreed to by roll call vote (13-6)
Agenda Item 77: H.R. 4984, an Act to direct the Secretary of the Interior to transfer administrative jurisdiction over the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus to the District of Columbia so that the District may use the Campus for purposes including residential and commercial development, and for other purposes. (Rep. Comer). Agreed to by roll call vote (17-2)
I quickly read through S, 2867 by Barrasso. There is a lot in there but here is the most pertinent issue, in my opinion. They want each Forest to come up with an average of acres treated for FY 2019-2023. For FY’s 2025 and 2025, their acres treated target will be equal to that average. For FY’s 2027 and 2028, their target will be the previous average plus 20%. For FY 2029 and subsequent years, their target will be the previous average plus 40%. This bill also includes a ton of reporting that should keep the Forest Service busy. I have to say that with some of this, the FS brought on themselves with all the double and triple counting of acres in the past, which brought on a lot of mistrust.
So, seems simple enough, just mandate that more gets done. Not sure how that jives with DOGE and Ramaswamy’s goal of cutting the number of federal employees in half. Will the FS get more funding to get all of this work done? With half the employees? Maybe Senator Barrasso needs to dive into some of the real reasons things aren’t getting done rather than just demanding that more gets done, or else. I can tell you that he has not spent the time talking with FS employees to get at the root causes. Whom does he talk with, well, the timber industry. He listens to them a lot. Is their perspective important? Sure it is, but it is by no means the only point of view he needs to listen to.
There may be some good things in this bill, but I am not so sure. I did not spend that much time dissecting it. Will it actually improve things? I really have my doubts. Maybe on the margins.
Wyden has been an enemy of public forest management and rural Oregon towns since Day 1. His idea of resolving a problem is to give taxpayer money to groups to implement regulations and file lawsuits. I have no idea what he thinks a “prescribed fire” is, or what he thinks the bill says it is, but I can guarantee his knowledge of forest management involves lots of government jobs, regulations, logging and road maintenance reductions, and handouts. No actual experience or understanding. Based on his documented record.
I did not look at the details of Wyden’s bill. Are there some things in there that you would like to point out? I can’t say that I am familiar with much he has done other than the Wyden Amendment, which I think that some in the fire community see as beneficial.
Truth be told, with a few exceptions, most of these Senators and Representatives don’t understand forest management beyond the superficial level. They largely depend on staffers (some of whom are quite talented, I will admit) and the staffers get much of their information from lobbyists. Yes, there is a lot of bluster and carrying on from these politicians, particularly in hearings, but these bills are crafted by people heavily influenced by others who are looking out for the organizations paying their salaries. I guess it’s the American way.
Hi Dave: I haven’t looked at it either, but I have no idea what he — or the current USFS — thinks a “prescribed fire” is. Also, other than the Karok in northern California, I don’t know of any Tribes in the spotted owl region “to acknowledge and support the long-standing use of cultural burning by Tribes and Indigenous practitioners.”
The use of the word “long-standing” is politics, not reality. And what do you think he means by “indigenous practitioner?” My crews used to hire Siletz, Yaqui, and other Tribal members to do prescribed burns 40 years ago. Is that what this bill means? (Rhetorical question).
In western Oregon our formerly beautiful, productive, and accessible national forests have been largely burned in wildfires and hidden behind locked gates. Ruined forestry businesses, damaged rural communities, unemployment, polluted air, and dead wildlife are the hallmarks of public land management under Wyden’s “leadership.” A total failure that lives in a book store in New York telling us what we can and can’t do with the mess he has helped to create. That’s my opinion.
Hey, if the Forest Service cannot be trusted to solve their own problems, what makes anyone think that a new partisan conspiracy theory Congress (and the Orange RakeMeister Administration) can “fix it”? I watched a Zoom video of a Congressional ‘e-meeting’ concerning forests and wildfires, years ago. None of the Congressmen appeared to see ‘the big picture’, with Republicans especially pushing the false rhetoric. At least the Democrats listened to the guest speakers. One Republican had no questions for the guests, instead, dictating his own flawed views and misinformation.
Congressmen cannot even agree upon the past, much less the future, of our forests. It looks like it will be up to the courts to support sound science, in a very transparent manner. I doubt that Trump would be able to declare an emergency, suspending environmental laws.
Larry: One of the biggest problems is that the “ecological forestry” proponents — whether academic scientists, modelers, or agency reps — “cannot even agree upon the past, much less the future, of our forests.”
That, in large part, is what got us into this mess. The entire history of thousands of years of human occupation in western Oregon, for example, is presented as some kind of “steady state ecosystem” characterized by old-growth conifers, lots of big snags and logs on the ground. It’s as if we all live in a terrarium in which modern-day humans (but not indigenous humans) are pathogens.
We need to seriously study the documented past — rather than simple assumptions that can be replicated with a few keystrokes — in order to better understand our options for the future. Otherwise, continued catastrophic wildfires, millions of dead animals, ruptured rural economies, and mass air pollution. As clearly predicted the past 35 years.
I thought you said that science is people questioning the things others do, that is scientific?
If things in Western OR were not steady state, in places, then how on earth did there ever get to be such large Douglas Firs and other species in the area, that were promptly cut down more and more as technology professed?
https://www.fs.usda.gov/r5/rsl/publications/oldgrowth/old-growth-ca-or-wa.pdf
https://www.lucascometto.com/cascadia-oregon
Forestry business is predicted on predictability, and all the recent administrations, but especially two recent ones and incoming third one (same as the first), have been anything but, which leads to confusion on regulations, expectation, and outcomes.
Before he retired in 2022 Bob Beck was Wyoming Public Media’s News Director for thirty four years. In 2012 he began an interview with Senator John Barrasso (Earth hater-WY) asking the question: “Senator, why do you hate the environment?”
During remarks to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in 2021, US Forest Service Chief Randy Moore outlined a plan to ship logs from as far away as California to sawmills owned by Hulett, Wyoming’s Neiman Enterprises. Now, Chief Moore is seeking a 6.5% increase in 2025 funding beyond the $12 billion in annual appropriations to hire additional firefighters.
On Thursday Barrasso and Moore clashed as lumber prices crash and sawmills face a glut driven by wildfires, especially in Canada, flood markets with timber salvage in part due to human influences on global climate patterns. Barrasso is seeking the Republican Senate whip position backed by career criminal, Donald Trump who would compel the Forest Service to rake millions of ecoregion acres to clear woody debris.
The Forest Service relies on provisions in the emerging farm bill for funding including, “an extension of the Landscape Scale Restoration Program through 2029, providing competitive grants for large-scale forest restoration projects that span across jurisdictions, an authorization for Regional Foresters to appoint individuals to local Resource Advisory Committees enhancing local cooperative resource management activities and provisions in the Wood Innovation Grant Program that would prioritize proposals that include the use or retrofitting of existing sawmill facilities in counties in which the average annual unemployment rate exceeded the national average by more than 1 percent.”
Nevertheless, Republican governors who rely on socialism like Wyoming’s Mark Gordon, sent a letter to President Biden and US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack opposing an amendment addressing mature and old-growth plans for units of the National Forest System.
Sen. Barrasso is already notorious for encouraging moral hazard and adding layers of government overreach to the farm bill and subsidies for loggers like Neiman Enterprises who rip up forests in Wyoming, South Dakota, Colorado and Oregon. The Bearlodge District of the Black Hills National Forest plans several mechanical fuel treatments that prop up Wyoming Republican lobbyist, Jim Neiman.
Irony is just another casualty of Wyoming’s wildfires which have also cleared a half million acres of fences, power lines, dry grasses, sagebrush, ponderosa pine and juniper in Republican ranch country even as the Biden administration reaches out to those serial ecoterrorists who rely on moral hazard to survive.
Wow, pretty hearty diatribe for a late Autumn day; first of all, these “landscape scale restoration programs” work much better in theory than practice. The FS is NOT experienced enough in modeling business’s attempt to make everything whole through multi-year contracting. Recent history is littered with poor decisions from such pies in the sky, supported by millions of taxpayers dollars.
As for shipping logs from California, it is bizarre to contemplate what in Tar Nation were they thinking? Then, when industry is gone “ka-putnick”, treating national forest lands empties more tax payers coffers to the tune of $3,900/acre, and that doesn’t include slash disposal! Maybe that nasty old timber industry is good for something after all…. And, the Bearlodge RD is blessed with quite a timber resource, as long as an escaped Rx burn doesn’t incinerate it.
As for “ecoterrorists”, that’s a chosen moniker for the losing faction of this past election, for those keeping track…..
Apparently that’s a moniker chosen by you? (For half the country?)
Almost half, not the majority……
Maybe the good news is that there’s a huge and very healthy aspen community just below Warren Peak on the Bearlodge District and very little Black Hills spruce.