Forest health bill passes House
Lincoln County's Congressional representative issued a statement Friday, expressing his support for a bill that will allow some changes in national forest management.
Introduced by U.S. Rep Bruce Westerman, Republican from Arkansas, House Bill 2647, the Resilient Federal Forests Act, passed the house Thursday by a bipartisan vote of 262 to 167. The stated aim of the bill is to promote healthy forests that are less susceptible to wildfire and disease infestation through greater management and thinning.
U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, who represents New Mexico's 2nd Congressional District that includes Lincoln County, stated in a release Friday, "This bill is a step in the right direction in ensuring that our national forests are properly managed and cared for. The Forest Service has failed to carry out its duty to properly thin and care for our national forests. The result is a lack of timber production, heavily over grown forests and national forests that are at risk of catastrophic wildfires, which threaten environmental conditions as well as New Mexico communities.