{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://walden.house.gov/media-center/op-eds/how-much-more-has-burn-congress-fixes-forest-management", "How much more has to burn before Congress fixes forest management?", "2020-10-05", "2020", "2020-10", "Republican", "Senate", "OR", "Greg Walden", "W000791", "walden.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "How much more has to burn before Congress fixes forest management? \nBy: Rep. Greg Walden\nThere are no words to describe the devastation and loss I saw as I toured the towns of Phoenix and Talent, Oregon. Lives were shattered as deadly fires merged to incinerate thousands of homes and apartments.\n\nElsewhere in the state, massive fires burning nearly three acres per second laid waste to forested communities. And for the towns that were lucky enough to avoid the fires themselves, residents choked on the toxic smoke these fires produced, as we endured the worst air quality in the world all across the Northwest.\nTo put in perspective the vastness of the smoke, during my drive from near Baker City, Oregon, to Medford, Oregon, I navigated through smoke so dense you could only see 30-50 feet ahead at times.\nAfter seeing the disaster firsthand, I flew to Sacramento to meet up with President Trump and show him photos of the devastation in Phoenix and Talent. Trump committed to me that his administration would do all it could to help us recover and rebuild. He signed off on Gov. Kate Brown's major disaster declaration request within a day. Additional resources are now on the way to the state of Oregon to help individuals affected by these fires.\n  \n\tWildfires are nothing new. They are a part of nature, but what Oregon and most of the Pacific Northwest is facing this summer is unprecedented.While I am glad the federal government is swiftly providing aid to millions of Americans affected by fires in the Pacific Northwest, with over a million acres burned in Oregon just this year, we must do more to prevent these fires from happening in the future. We shouldn't be forced to choke on smoke and watch our homes, our towns, and our forests burn to the ground every summer.\nWhile climate change is a factor, decades of fire suppression and broken federal forest management policies have left our forests overgrown and waiting to burn. Forests are not static  they grow, die, and burn. In Oregon alone, the amount of timber in our national forests increases through growth by over 50% every year. The result is unnaturally dense forests that fuel increasingly catastrophic wildfires.\nWe must do better.\nIn 2018, I helped lead Congress to pass into law some of the most extensive forest management policy reforms our nation had seen in more than a decade. We provided additional tools and funding to the Forest Service to more quickly implement critical forest management projects.\nThe Trump administration is taking advantage of these tools, and progress is being made toward improving the management of our federal lands. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has shown that since 2016, the Forest Service has increased the area treated to prevent wildfires by 20%.\nDespite this progress, the Forest Service estimates at least 63 million acres of our national forests, including 7 million acres in Oregon, are at high risk of wildfire and in need of active management. We must do more and fast. That's why I've worked closely with my colleagues to write the Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2019. This legislation provides thoughtful, science-based tools to forest managers and streamlines fire prevention projects so we can get our forests back in balance. When fire does strike, it would ensure we clean up the burned, dead trees where appropriate and while they still have value, and replant a new, healthy forest for future generations.\nIt's time to listen to science and pass policies that reduce the risk and size of forest fires. Even the United Nation's climate panel said forest management should be part of our plan to address climate change by reducing emissions. We need to better manage our forests, update our infrastructure, and promote clean bio-mass energy. The Nature Conservancy and U.S. Forest Service found that active forest management could reduce the size and intensity of wildfires fires by 70%.\nWe must do more to get our forests back into balance, reduce the risk of wildfire, help them recover quicker after fires, and help our forested communities thrive. Democrats in the House should stop blocking the bipartisan Resilient Federal Forests Act from getting a vote in the House. It's time to get these commonsense policies into law. Let's save our forests and our communities, improve public health, and reduce emissions.\nHere in the Pacific Northwest, the skies may have cleared for now, but if Congress doesn't act soon, we will face another summer of fire and destruction in 2021.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://walden.house.gov/media-center/op-eds/how-much-more-has-burn-congress-fixes-forest-management"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7677229586988688, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}