Newhouse Applauds Passage of Major Forest Restoration Bill

Today, Rep. Dan Newhouse (WA-04) released the following statement upon passage of the Fix Our Forests Act by the United States House of Representatives.

"As Chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus and a lifelong resident of Central Washington where we are affected by these disasters, wildfire risk remains top of mind as states across the West are ravaged by wildfires year after year," said Rep. Newhouse.

"In Washington state alone, wildfires have destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres in recent years, and there is no sign of it slowing down. We need proactive forest management now, and the Fix Our Forests Act will help achieve this goal."

"This bipartisan effort will enable desperately needed active forest management by expediting permitting reviews and limiting senseless lawsuits from extreme environmentalists."

This comprehensive, bipartisan legislation restores forest health, increases resiliency to catastrophic wildfires, and protects communities by expediting environmental analyses, reducing frivolous lawsuits, and increasing the pace and scale of forest restoration projects.

Sponsored by House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and Congressman Scott Peters (D-CA), it will provide agencies with critical tools to implement the most vital forest management projects immediately.

This legislation:

• Simplifies and expedites environmental reviews to reduce costs and planning times for critical forest management projects while maintaining rigorous environmental standards.
• Utilizes state-of-the-art science to prioritize the treatment of forests at the highest risk of wildfire.
• Promotes federal, state, tribal, and local collaboration by creating a new Fireshed Center and codifying the Shared Stewardship initiative.
• Makes communities more resilient to wildfire by coordinating existing grant programs and incentivizing new research.
• Revitalizes rural economies by strengthening tools such as Good Neighbor Authority and Stewardship Contracting.
• Hardens utility rights-of-way against wildfire by encouraging more active management and removal of dangerous hazard trees.

Full bill text can be found here(link is external).

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