[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 45 (Wednesday, March 13, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H1162-H1163]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     PUT THE FOREST SERVICE TO WORK

  (Mr. LaMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, the Forest Service has in its charge just 
under 200 million acres across this country.
  We need the Forest Service to engage with private industry to help 
take care of those lands. There is not enough money, even after the 
massive influx when they bragged at the hearing the other day that they 
have more money now than they ever had before, but they still need 
another $20 million to move one particular project. How is there enough 
money for them to do their job when they can't even do it now.
  We need the private sector to be able to access forest lands, to be 
able to harvest, because right now the U.S. is the number two importer 
of wood products.
  Why are we the number two importer of wood products when we have so 
much over-inventory, especially our western States, where we burn 
millions of acres every year, including the 1 million-acre fire in my 
district just a couple years ago, as well as the Camp fire that killed 
86 people 5 years ago.
  We need to put the Forest Service to work or we need to move them out 
of the way. The private sector is an important part of that. We need 
industry because the Forest Service is not and will never keep up with 
that. They need to get out permits, contracts, and allow this wood to 
be harvested in a sustainable good way as the industry knows how to do.

[[Page H1163]]

  

                          ____________________