Post-fire logging bill goes to House

WASHINGTON – A measure to speed up logging dead timber and planting new trees after storms and wildfires appeared headed for the House floor after a House committee approved it Wednesday.

The House Agriculture Committee backed the measure, 36-3. The vote follows an endorsement of the bill last week by the House Resources Committee.

The bipartisan bill is sponsored by Reps. Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Brian Baird, D-Wash. It would give public land agencies 30 days after a wildfire or other catastrophe to come up with a plan to restore a forest. A 90-day public comment period would be allowed after that, followed by court action.

Environmentalists are fighting the measure, arguing that cutting large old trees and planting new ones results in forests that are more vulnerable to new fires and less valuable as habitat for fish and wildlife. They say it is better to allow forests to come back on their own.

But Walden called the bill a common sense approach that has won strong support from a variety of organizations, including the 15,000-member Society of American Foresters.

“The Forest Emergency Recovery and Research Act would allow our talented federal land managers to have the same tools states, counties, tribes and private landowners have at their disposal to improve and restore the health of our national forests,” Walden said.

A vote in the full House is not expected until at least next month.