[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 160 (Wednesday, September 16, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H4435-H4436]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TREES ARE TRULY AMAZING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Arkansas (Mr. Westerman) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the trees, the 
forest they call home, and all Americans who live near there.
  In the words of the poet Joyce Kilmer:

     I think that I shall never see
     A poem as lovely as a tree.
     A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed
     Against the Earth's sweet flowing breast.
     A tree that looks at God all day
     And lifts her leaf-filled arms to pray.
     A tree that may in summer wear
     A nest of robins in her hair.
     Upon whose bosom snow has lain,
     Who's intimately lived with rain.
     Poems are made by folks like me,
     But only God can make a tree.

  Mr. Speaker, trees are truly amazing. Through the remarkable process 
of photosynthesis, trees take in carbon dioxide. They store the carbon 
in the wood, and they release the oxygen back for us to breathe. Trees 
provide us with clean air.
  But just as important as clean air, trees provide us with clean 
water. Their roots hold the soil together, and as water percolates 
through, they clean the water.
  Forests also provide wildlife habitat. They provide us places for 
outdoor recreation. Trees provide amazing green building products, like 
mass timber. Trees provide packaging for shipping. And let us not 
forget where toilet paper comes from.
  No wonder trees are so admired, as they should be. However, our 
beloved trees and forests in the West have a different image today, one 
not of grandeur and amazing beauty, but one of fuel in an apocalyptic 
inferno that is killing people, destroying homes and property, and 
leaving barren landscapes below and choking smoke above.
  Mr. Speaker, unlike the mythical Ents of middle-earth in the ``Lord 
of the Rings,'' our trees cannot speak for themselves. I don't claim to 
be Dr. Seuss' Lorax, but if trees could talk, I believe they would be 
crying out: Hey, humans, stop loving us to death. Hey, humans, we need 
some relief, and you are supposed to be taking care of us. Hey, 
Congress, you are killing us, and if we die, you die. Please work 
together and apply your husbandry skills to give us a chance. When 
trees win, humans win.
  Mr. Speaker, even as the climate changes and fire threats increase in 
the West, there is hope if we will just do the right thing. That right 
thing is forest management, and it looks different on different sites.
  Here is an example of how it looks in my home State of Arkansas. This 
is the Felsenthal National Wildlife Management area. You can see an 
unmanaged forest, the control site. You see the thick underbrush, the 
midstory and the understory that is too thick. You see the simple 
management practices of thinning out the understory, doing controlled 
burns, and at the bottom you see what a beautiful, healthy forest looks 
like.
  Here is an example of how it looks in California. This is an aerial 
shot from the devastating Camp fire near Paradise. This red hatched 
area, that is where the fire burned. This dark red line, that is where 
the fire was stopped.
  You can see this little band right here. That was actually a 
firebreak

[[Page H4436]]

that was put in place by a private forestry company to stop the spread 
of fire onto their land because public lands are so mismanaged.
  Here is what that firebreak looked like. It was a thinned area where 
the fire came in from this direction. It went down to the ground, and 
firemen were actually able to put it out and save the forest on the 
other side.
  That is what sound forest management looks like. This is not clear-
cutting. It is commonsense, science-based management that works.
  Mr. Speaker, now is the time to act--not after the election, not the 
next Congress, but now. In the Trillion Trees Act, we have outlined 
policies to implement the most basic forest management practices to the 
four most critical areas:
  The wildland urban interface where fire can start, but where breaks 
can be created and we can thin;
  Energy transportation corridors. We know fires can start from 
electric arcs;
  Transportation corridors, where trains and cars can create sparks and 
where more humans are near the forest;
  And last but not least, in critical watersheds where the damage is 
felt long after the fires are out.
  For the sake of our forests, our environment, and all Americans, I 
urge Congress to act. Pass the Trillion Trees Act, and let's be the 
good stewards that the trees deserve.

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