Delegate Uifa’atali Amata Coleman Radewagen (R) of American Samoa welcomed the United States House of Representatives passage of the bipartisan HR 471, the Fix Our Forests Act, led by Representative Bruce Westerman (R) of Arkansas, who is the only professional forester in the US Congress, and Representative Scott Peters (D) of California.
The House also passed the bill last year, with Radewagen’s cosponsorship, but the legislation had not passed the Senate when the 118th Congress ended. Hence, Representatives Westerman and Peters rapidly reintroduced the already-vetted bill, as prior hearings had been held on it.
“Our nation’s beautiful forests mean so much to our great country. American Samoa is covered with tropical rainforest, but our firefighters have responded repeatedly to the call to help contain western wildfires, and we have the tragic reminder of the Lahaina wildfire to know even islands are not immune,” said Delegate Radewagen. “The goal of good forest management is to preserve more trees for the future. Thank you to Chairman Westerman for reintroducing the bipartisan Fix Our Forests Act.”
“Preventing and containing major fires such as the current destruction in Los Angeles through science, study, sensible management, and rapid response readiness have been a constant theme of Chairman Westerman’s leadership,” concluded Radewagen.
The Fix Our Forests Act promotes federal, state, tribal, and local collaboration; seeks to improve community resilience to wildfire; incentivizes new research; applies state-of-the-art science and tools to treat forests that are at the highest risk of wildfire; reduces burdensome litigation that can delay critical forest projects; and encourages active professional management such as preventing trees in contact with power lines.
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