Lawmakers hold forum on wildfires

Republican members of the House Natural Resources Committee held a forum Thursday titled “Preventing Catastrophic Wildfires and Restoring Forest Health and Resiliency.”

U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., the committee’s ranking member, holds a master’s degree in forestry from Yale University.

He is the only licensed forester currently serving in Congress, according to the American Conservation Coalition.

Last week’s hearing came as the West Coast is in the midst of drought.

The region is also experiencing unprecedented heat. Last month, Portland, Ore.’s high temperature reached 116 degrees.

Oregon’s Bootleg Fire is reportedly now the third-largest in state history.

In Death Valley, Calif., the temperature reached 130 degrees, the hottest the U.S. has been in at least a century.

Westerman says misguided forest policies are making a bad problem worse.

“We need a paradigm shift about how we manage our forests to restore health and resiliency. Until that moment, we will continue to see the tinderboxes that we call forests literally explode at the slightest spark,” he said during the hearing.

“We already know what the remedy is to our unhealthy lands, and that’s science-based, active management,” he said.

Last week, Westerman reintroduced the Resilient Federal Forests Act, which seeks to overhaul forest management practices.

Planning to visit the nation’s capital? Know something happening in Washington, D.C.? Please contact Frank Lockwood at (501) 908-5204 or flockwood@adgnewsroom.com. Want to get the latest from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Washington bureau? It’s available on Twitter, @LockwoodFrank.