Monthly Archives: November 2018

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The farm bill continues to be bogged down with conflicts over forestry programs that the Trump Administration is insisting on to deal with forest fires. As congressional leaders were expected to consider how to handle forestry policy in the farm bill conference report this week, members of the Congressional Western Caucus on Tuesday urged farm bill conferees to include the forestry provisions of the House farm bill and condemned Senate Democrats for obstructing active management of the nation’s forests. But the press release was a sign that the campaign to allow changes to forest management policy is not faring well. …Schumer told reporters Tuesday that forestry is the only major farm-bill issue left and that Democrats “hope we can get a farm bill this year.”

Donald Trump, Jerry Brown, Brock Long

WASHINGTON- An increasingly fierce debate about how to prevent deadly wildfires in California is threatening to endanger crucial crop insurance for farmers in Kansas and Missouri. In the wake of wildfires that killed at least 88 people this month, President Donald Trump’s administration is pressuring Congress to include provisions in the farm policy bill that would roll back regulations on forest-thinning projects — a move the administration says would save lives and property. “We cannot waste a crisis. … We need to treat more acres,” U.S Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen said Monday while visiting Paradise, Calif., where hundreds remain missing after the Camp Fire tore through the Northern California town earlier this month. …Environmental groups and many Democrats are staunchly opposed to the Republican-backed forestry measures, which are included in the version of the farm bill the GOP-led House passed earlier this year.

The U.S. Supreme Court told a lower court to take another look at the federal designation of privately owned land in Louisiana as critical habitat for the endangered dusky gopher frog. Ruling unanimously in a case involving Weyerhaeuser Co., the justices called for a closer look at the meaning of the word “habitat” in the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Weyerhaeuser, which owns part of the land, said the designation was improper because the animal doesn’t live on the property and couldn’t do so without modifications to the land. Weyerhaeuser is harvesting timber on the land and says the owners are planning to develop the 1,500-acre property later. During arguments in October, the justices had seemed divided on whether the law’s definition of “habitat” left open the possibility that modifications would be needed.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Monday again called for Congress to enact more aggressive forest management policies included in the House-passed farm bill, saying they could save forests and lives and create jobs in the logging industry. …Zinke and the Trump administration want Congress to approve measures in a farm bill passed this year in the House, which would give the Interior Department and the Forest Service new authority to clear risky biomass like dead trees and brush from forests. The controversial measures include new exemptions from environmental review for many forest thinning practices, reducing barriers to removing wood after fires and making it easier to build roads through federal land in the name of forest management. …Lawmakers from the House and Senate are negotiating toward a final farm bill that could pass both chambers and get President Trump’s signature.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said late Monday that she and other congressional agriculture leaders are “very close” to finishing a new farm bill, but that last-minute demands from House Republicans and the White House to make changes to forestry policy could bring down the bill. …”It would be very unfortunate if [the demands for forestry policy changes] brought down the farm bill …unfortunate for farmers and ranchers.” …The forestry issue arose last week in reaction to the latest devastating wildfires in California. …Perdue and Zinke also said Congress should give them more authority to clear forests of materials that they contend are causing fires, although they emphasized that they are not proposing clear-cutting.