East Idaho Times

U.S. Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), and Steve Daines (R-Montana) have voiced opposition to a proposed amendment by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The amendment aims to introduce new guidelines for the National Forest System’s 128 Forest Plans, which the senators argue would impose unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles on local forests and impede essential forest management efforts, thereby increasing the risk of catastrophic wildfires.

"Every fire season more acres of our western National Forests are scorched in catastrophic wildfires while needed management work is put on hold," stated the senators. "Drought, insects, and disease continue to make our forests more vulnerable to these wildfires. Already this year 7.3 million acres have burned across the country. Addressing this crisis should be the top priority of the Forest Service."

The senators criticized the USFS's approach, stating, "Instead, the Forest Service has moved forward with an unprecedented proposal to amend all 128 Forest Plans at once without making it clear why these changes are needed or even that the proposed changes will address the real threats to old growth forests... Unfortunately, the proposed Amendment will take staff time away from on-the-ground work to address the wildfire threat and refocus the agency’s limited capacity on deciding if the Forest Plan needs to be updated to comply with new standards... This is the opposite of what our forests need during this crisis."

They further argued that "the Forest Service should be focused on expediting needed on-the-ground work, not putting new hurdles in place to delay hazardous fuels mitigation work. This new layer of guidelines will also open the door to additional litigation against proposed projects further slowing down the process."

The full letter can be read [HERE].