A Senate committee will hold a hearing Thursday on the proposed Fix Our Forests Act, which is aimed at reducing catastrophic wildfires. It passed the House of Representatives in January with bipartisan support but is opposed by environmental groups.
The bill would designate certain at-risk areas as “firesheds” and set up an interagency Fireshed Center. Other provisions are aimed at speeding up forest thinning and prescribed burns.
Neil Chapman, forest health specialist for the City of Flagstaff, says the bill strongly aligns with nine of the 160-plus recommendations made by a Congressionally established wildfire commission.
But Chapman says it falls short on making communities more defensible.
"It’s a good start, but it’s not 100% of what our community needs to say holistically we’ve reduced our wildfire risk across both natural and built environments."
Conservation groups oppose the bill for waiving environmental reviews in the new firesheds and loosening the requirements of the Endangered Species Act.
Ashley Nunes is a public lands specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity.
"These environmental rollbacks do nothing to address wildfires, these environmental rollbacks do nothing to make forests healthier or protect communities," she says.
Nunes adds that the bill was written too broadly and leaves loopholes for the timber industry to exploit.
Thursday's hearing will be streamed on the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry's website.
