There may be progress in our forestry management. From an Inet article by Audrey. An excerpt from Greg Walden: Healthy Forests Healthy forests, healthy communities in southern Oregon In Grants Pass, where the smoke from nearby fires was thick, creating healthy forests and family wage jobs in our communities was the topic of the day. I participated in a panel of community leaders at Fruitdale Elementary to give an update on the bipartisan plan I co-authored to put people back to work in the woods and to provide essential local services, like schools and law enforcement. Among others in attendance at the meeting included state Sen. Herman Baertschiger, state Rep. Wally Hicks, Josephine County Sheriff Gil Gilberston, and Jennifer Phillippi of Rough and Ready Lumber. The participants made it clear just how desperate communities in southern Oregon are for relief. It’s pretty startling when the School Board chairman discusses having to lay off teachers or when the Josephine County Sheriff says, “I’ve seen better law enforcement in Third World countries than we have in Josephine County.” And remember, the sheriff spent a considerable time in Bosnia! All agreed that allowing more active management in our forests and putting people back to work in the woods would go a long way towards creating healthy forests and healthy communities. The federal government needs to be a better neighbor. In the words of Grants Pass Mayor, Darrin Fowler, “The courts and the government are standing between us and jobs.” For more information, click here to readThe Daily Courier’sarticle about the meeting. Our bipartisan forestry plan to put people back to work in the woods and provide certainty for local communities was approved by the House Natural Resources Committee a few weeks ago. And I have a commitment from the House leadership that it will be considered by the full House in September. This issue is too important to Oregonians to be held up any longer. We have to move quickly to get this done for our state. We’re seeing too many fires, consume too much forestland, filling our skies with smoke all summer long. Meanwhile, we spend millions and millions fighting fire. This broken system has to change.”
Posted on: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 22:31:28 +0000
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