Yuba-Sutter Times

Today, Congressman Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) voted in support of H.R. 8790, the Fix Our Forests Act (FOFA), as it passed out of the House Natural Resources Committee on a bipartisan voice vote. The bill can now be sent to the House Floor for a full vote.

The Fix Our Forests Act contains several forestry policy initiatives aimed at streamlining and expediting environmental reviews for forest management projects. It expands acreage that can be utilized by existing exclusions of these reviews while creating new availability, reduces litigation stemming from the Cottonwood court decision, strengthens existing expedited authorities with respect to electrical line rights-of-ways, and creates new markets for low-value timber from hazardous fuels reduction projects.

Congressman LaMalfa, who serves as the House Agriculture Subcommittee Chairman on Forestry, included many of the provisions seen in H.R. 8790 in the Forestry Title of the Farm Bill, which passed out of the Agriculture Committee on a bipartisan vote last month.

“It’s a relief to finally see bipartisan support for proactive forest management that will combat wildfires. These are policies I have been working on for years. We shouldn’t have to suffer through fires such as the Camp, Dixie, or August-Complex Fire to act. Congress now has two bipartisan bills ready to head to the floor that include much-needed forestry policy reforms – the Fix Our Forests Act and in the Forestry Title of the Farm Bill. Getting them both passed so we can reduce wildfire risk across the west and especially in Northern California is critical,” said Congressman LaMalfa.

Congressman Doug LaMalfa is a lifelong farmer representing California’s First Congressional District, including Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama and Yuba Counties.