[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 130 (Friday, October 7, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2048]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        NATIONAL FORESTS REHABILITATION AND RECOVERY ACT OF 2005

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. TOM UDALL

                             of new mexico

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 7, 2005

  Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing 
legislation to authorize the Forest Service and Bureau of Land 
Management to carry out five collaboratively created pilot projects 
dealing with post-disturbance rehabilitation.
  For those communities that remain at risk from wildland fire or other 
disturbances, it is important to consider, in advance, scenarios for 
rehabilitation should a wildland fire, insect infestation, hurricane, 
or other disturbance event occur. The National Forests Rehabilitation 
and Recovery Act does just that--this legislation promotes pro-active 
planning and collaboration to accelerate the approval of rehabilitation 
projects following uncharacteristic disturbance events.
  The National Forests Rehabilitation and Recovery Act will create five 
pilot projects for post-disturbance rehabilitation. Federal forest land 
communities can apply to participate in the pilot program by meeting a 
number of different criteria, with specific consideration given to 
communities that have a proven track record of working in a 
collaborative manner to resolve natural resource issues.
  This bill includes independent, third-party monitoring of the forest 
areas following rehabilitation operations to track the short-term and 
long-term impacts of logging, replanting, stream restoration, road 
removal, or other rehabilitation activities. The legislation further 
creates a National Oversight Committee of scientists to provide 
scientific and socioeconomic monitoring and evaluation of the pilot 
program. The National Oversight Committee will submit reports to 
Congress on the short and long-term results of the pilot project. The 
results of this report will allow Congress to make the most informed 
decisions on post-disturbance rehabilitation in the future.
  Community collaboration has shown great promise in resolving 
controversial issues before Federal agencies. While I reserved concerns 
with the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003, Public Law 108-148, 
one good that came out of the legislation is that it recognized the 
promise in collaboration by encouraging the development of community 
wildfire protection plans. These plans have allowed communities across 
the country to work in a collaborative manner to resolve natural 
resource issues concerning wildfire protection.
  There is no doubt that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of 
cure. When Congress passed the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003, 
Congress clearly recognized the priority of preventing wildfires 
through active thinning of Federal lands in the wildland-urban 
interface. It is just common sense that we need to invest more on the 
front end in the name of fire prevention to avert major spending post-
fire.
  While I believe that there were inadequacies with the Healthy Forests 
Restoration Act, I do believe that we are being penny-wise and pound-
foolish by cheating our budget for forest thinning. To date, forest 
thinning has not been funded even close to the level authorized. This 
needs to improve for the sake of protecting our communities and public 
lands.
  Mr. Speaker, the National Forests Rehabilitation and Recovery Act 
represents a balanced and collaborative approach to post-disturbance 
rehabilitation. I am pleased to introduce my legislation today with my 
colleagues Mr. Nick Rahall and Mr. Raul Grijalva. I urge my other 
colleagues to support this bill so that we can promote a collaborative 
approach to restoring forest ecosystem health and diversity following 
unusually intense disturbances.

                          ____________________