Western Caucus Calls on Senator Daschle to Act on Healthy Forests

Washington, D.C. -Congressman Chris Cannon, along with twenty-two other Members of the Congressional Western Caucus, sent a letter to Senator Daschle today, calling on the Senate Minority Leader to appoint Conferees to the Healthy Forests legislation without delay.

“Action is long overdue to help prevent the catastrophic forest fires that are scorching the West. The current fires ravaging homes and public lands are at least partly the result of a lack of an effective management plan that has created forests of tinder. The Healthy Forests legislation is a balanced and comprehensive approach to forest management that will help restore our public lands and prevent future fires. I hope that Senator Dashcle will stop playing politics with this issue so that we can send this vital legislation to the President quickly,” said Cannon, who is Chairman of the Western Caucus.

The text of the letter is as follows:

Dear Minority Leader Daschle:

As Members of the Congressional Western Caucus, we were pleased that both the House and the Senate passed legislation to help address the causes of wildfires plaguing forest communities across our country. The fact that the bills passed out of the respective bodies of Congress were similar in scope and language gave us great hope that this essential legislation could be approved and enacted expeditiously.

As we have just seen in California, far too many homes, watersheds and natural resources are being destroyed or damaged as the result of catastrophic fires, and after much debate, we are now poised to put in place management initiatives that could very well help prevent some of these fires in the future. All that remains is to convene a conference so that we can reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions and send a compromise bill to the President.

As we approach the final step of this process, we are now dismayed to learn that you are not naming conferees. We are unable to see what can justify a delay in moving this important initiative, and fear that it will be recognized by the American public as an attempt to obstruct final passage of healthy forests legislation. It would appear that as the fires in California have started to cool, so has the motivation of some to address this important issue.

After all the time and effort that has gone into this important legislation, and after all the human and environmental injury that has occurred in California during the last couple of weeks, now would be a sad time to use procedural tactics to keep forest health legislation from being signed into law. Two hundred and fifty six members of the House and eighty members of the Senate have spoken. Now is the time to move this bill.

We urge you to act expeditiously in naming conferees and to remove any procedural roadblocks that might get in the way of prompt consideration of the bipartisan Healthy Forests Restoration Act. Our land managers desperately need the tools this legislation will provide in order to begin the task of better managing our resources and hopefully reducing the devastation of fires in the years to come.

Sincerely,